


skinny love

by ValerieInWonderland



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drug Dealing, F/F, Recreational Drug Use, Slow Burn, heelip, look out for other idols cameos, viseul is present too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2020-10-19 15:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20659562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValerieInWonderland/pseuds/ValerieInWonderland
Summary: In which Sooyoung asks her best friend Jungeun to go deal in her place and chaos ensues from there.orextra slow-burn, not really an enemies-to-lovers heelip





	1. i.

**Author's Note:**

> hi, this started out as a twitter social media au, but i decided to crosspost it here with minor changes to the original version. unfortunately i decided not to continue the social media format, so every further update will only be made in this version, i hope you enjoy nevertheless :)

Jungeun loved her friends, she really did, but they were always putting her in situations that she didn’t want to be and that infuriated her. So it was no surprise when her best friend texted her earlier that day asking if she could go to the school’s head-cheerleader’s party in her place, literally the last place Jungeun would ever want to go and all she could say was _yes_, because she’s a good person and doesn’t like disappointing her friends. Of course she regreted the second she agreed to it, but she wouldn’t back out since she’d be helping her friend and to her that was the only reason she needed to go on with it.

So that’s where Jungeun’s now, eyes darting between the house in front of her and the address in her phone. It was most definitely the right place, but nothing surroundingthe enormous residence gave away that a party may be happening inside. Nothing aside from the low but continuous thumping music that Jungeun just assumed came from there.

She stood in front of it for a few minutes, debating internally if she really needed to do that. Part of her wanted to find any excuse to get the hell out of there and away from what waited her beyond that door, but she had promised her best friend she’d help her and in the end she’d do it just for the sake of having walked all the way from her work to that posh neighbourhood so there’s no way she’d waste the trip.

She came to the conclusion that she was not at all prepared to face the enemy sober, so the first thing Jungeun did before entering the battlefield was hit the joint she had rolled on her way there. Only stopping once she felt the familiar feeling of being lightheaded. _Now I’m ready._

Once she stepped inside, all her senses became overwhelmed with everything happening in front of her. She stared for a minute people whose faces she could barely recognise doing all sort of things, ranging from the obvious drinking and not so subtle hooking up in the hallways to a group of girls on what looked like a dance competition.

She felt like her face expressed everything she was feeling and anyone that took a second look to her could tell that she was beyond discomfortable and wished to be anywhere but there.

She kept walking, not really knowing her way around, simply following the flow. After a few stumbling she reached the kitchen, where she luckily found Haseul next to what Jungeun deduced was the party’s whole alcohol supply. Not much for a party with half the junior and senior students. That’d explain why they wanted Sooyoung to attend.

“Seul!” Jungeun called her friend while shoving a blue haired boy out of the way.

The older girl turned upon hearing her name, only to see the last person she expected to see at the party “Jungie, what are you doing here?”

“Soo’s busy, so she asked me to cover for her. Something about this being a good place to profit.”

The short girl snorted angrily because that was so of Sooyoung and her capitalist ass to drag the younger girl into a party to sell drugs when she was absent doing god knows what. “Of course she did.”

Jungeun just shrugged trying to dismiss her friend’s worries.

“Want a drink?” Haseul offered, already grabbing a random cup from the counter and shoving into the younger’s hands.

“Nah, I’m good.” Jungeun declined putting the cup back to where it was “Where’s Cersei Lannister?” 

At that moment a very agitated Vivi entered the kitchen in a hurry “Babe!” she called, completely ignoring the other girl standing next to them. “Babe, I think I just saw Yeojin challenging a girl in the living room.”

Haseul growled before grabbing the first hard licour she could find and pouring herself a shot and drowning it in one go before repeating the action. “I can’t believe that little brat disobeyed me.” She cursed before storming out of the kitchen, Vivi following right after.

“Wait! Just tell me where’s the host?” Jungeun called after them, but they were already gone. 

“You’re looking for Chae?” A deep feminine voice asked and Jungeun turned around to see a girl standing on the other side of the counter smiling at her “She’s by the pool.” 

“Thanks.” Jungeun thanked the girl before going to what she assumed was the door to the back and just like the girl said she found the blonde cheerleader dancing with other girls from the cheerleading squad and a few jocks from the football team because _of course they’d hang together._

She approached the girls with a hurried pace, thinking that as soon as she could get over with it as soon she could go back home to binge watch the crappiest show she could find airing on TV.

“Chaewon?” Jungeun called, trying to make her voice be heard despite of the loud volume of the song “Chaewon?”

The cheerleader noticed on the second call the brunette standing awkwardly close to the dance floor. “Who are you?”

“Hi, Jungeun.” Yerim that was dancing close to Chaewon greeted the newcomer.

“Hey, Yerim." 

“You know her?” The head cheerleader asked, keeping her eyes trained on Jungeun.

“She’s friends with Hyunjin.”

“You asked for Yves, but she couldn’t come so I’m here in her place instead.” Jungeun explained in a rushed tone, not liking the time it was taking for the girl to understand what was happening.

Something seemed to click in the blonde’s head as she excused herself and dragged Jungeun to a secluded part of the house “Girls, I’ll be right back.”

“So, what you have?” Chaewon asked once they were alone.

“Firstly I think I’m morally obligated to tell you to stay away from drugs.“ Jungeun wanted to laugh at herself for caring to what that girl did with her life, but being down the rabbit hole herself and knowing it’s consequences somehow made her want to alert the others about it “You don’t want to get started on it.”

The blonde scoffed “You’re a underage kid literally selling weed to another underage kid. Also I’ve seen you smoking in the parking lot and at the benches. Everyday. So cut the BS and tell me what you’d recommend me.”

_It’s your funeral_, Jungeun wanted to say but by that point she was more than a hypocrite so she merely chuckled at the girl’s antics “Well, I’m usually more of a indica smoker but it’s not that great for a party since it makes you sleepy, so definitely a sativa or hybrid.” She reached for her backpack and started to look through her supply “Yves has–“

“Hey, what are you guys doing?” A bleach blonde girl approached them. All it took was a look to Jungeun’s hands for her to know exactly what they were doing “Oh, do you have Mango Kush?”

Jungeun was surprised to find a fellow smoker that knew enough to make a specific request “Yes.”

The girl grinned “Awesome. I’ll take an ounce.“ 

“Fuck, you sure? That’s a lot.” Jungeun was surprised to say the least. The girl not only knew what she was doing but it also seemed like she was as much of a smoker as Jungeun herself.

The bleach blonde just giggled “Pretty sure. I’ve ran out a couple of days ago, so why not get all of it now.” It made sense in her head. 

“If you’re sure.” Jungeun had a feeling the girl would get robbed with that much pot with her and nowhere to store it, but Sooyoung would kill her if she let that opportunity pass. _Easy money indeed._

Chaewon watched the exchange happening in front of her and instantly decided to play along “Me too. I want what she’s having.”

“You know what a ounce means?” Jungeun turned to the smaller girl skeptically.

“Of course I know.”

These girls could mean easy money but Jungeun knew they could also mean she’d get a round wayticket to juvie with a permanent record if the blonde girl got caught with that much drug and decided to rat her out “Look, if you’re not a regular smoker and you’re just looking to get high tonight I think the better option is an eighth or even half-eighth. Trust me.”

“She’s right, Chae.”

Chaewon seemed annoyed for her friend not backing her up but in the end gave in “Fine, I’ll take what you said. The eighth.”

Jungeun nodded and started to grab the smallpackages in her backpack. “Just make sure to keep yourselves hydrated, it will also help a little with the dry mouth.” She said after giving them the goods and putting the money she just received safely in her wallet. The head cheerleader not even wasting a glance and going back to where the other girls were by the pool.

“This is not my first rodeo, y’know. But I’ll make sure to remind her. Thank you!” The bleach blonde and by far the most educated of the two said before excusing herself and going to a different direction from the first girl.

Jungeun took that as her opportunity to finally leave that place from hell. She had made way more than Sooyoung had anticipated so there was no more reason for her to prolong her stay. She looked around her and found a path that’d probably lead to the front door. On the way a hand grabbed her arm impeding her from continuing.

“You’re leaving? You just got here.” It was Haseul and from the looks of it, she was way drunkier than she was the first time she’d seen her.

“I already did what I came here to do.” Jungeun explained, gently pulling her arm away from the other girl’s grip.

Haseul took a sip from her cup “It’s a party, weirdo. Live a little, you never leave your house.”

“That’s not true. I go to work and I hang with you and the gang.” The younger reminded her, because she’s pretty sure she spends most of her time out of her house. 

“Sure, but this is different. Try and have some fun. Meet new people.” Haseul suggested, gesturing to the amount of people dancing and chatting around them.

Jungeun observed the said people and made a disgusting face towards them “I don’t wanna befriend these people.” _Thank you very much._

Haseul rolled her eyes “You and your unreasonable hatred for them, I don’t get it. Just try, Jungie. Who knows, you may even find someone here to take your mind of that selfish cold-hearted ex-girlfriend of yours.”

“I–" 

“Just try.” The older girl said before disappearing to go look for what Jungeun assumed was her girlfriend. 

“Fine.” Jungeun grumbled to herself. She was already there, so why not take advantage of it, right? She went straight to the kitchen because if she was to stay at that place she needed something stronger than smoking to keep her from fighting someone.

“Did you find Chae?” She was pouring herself a mix of vodka and pineapple juice when the same girl from before asked.

“Yeah.”

“You’re Jungeun, right?” Jungeun nodded “I’m Jeon Heejin. We’re in the same biology class.” The girl introduced herself, offering the girl a smile. 

“Cool.” Jungeun said awkwardly, drinking from her cup. She had no idea how to talk with anyone that wasn’t her friends. 

“I’ve never seen you in a party before.” Heejin commented after awhile. 

“It’s not really my thing.”

“So what is your thing, Jungeun?” Heejin came closer to her, grabbing a cup and pouring the same mix. 

“I dunno, smoking pot I guess.” Jungeun admitted because she knew everyone knew she was a pothead. There’s no reason for her to start denying, even if she was starting to feel a little self-conscious around that girl.

Heejin’s eyes narrowed “Your not the dealer Chae was asking for, are you?” 

“Nope.” Jungeun answered quickly. She wasn’t lying. Chaewon had asked for Yves and Yves was Sooyoung, not her. But something about the girl made her feel ashamed for dealing. She made a mental note to tell Sooyoung she’d never do it again.

Heejin kept looking at her as if she was gonna say something and that was starting to make Jungeun nervous, but after it was clear that neither of them wasn’t going to say a word, Jungeun decided to turn around and start walking through the party when she saw someone she wasn’t at all prepared to see. 

“Fuck.” She cursed, trying to hide herself behind a group of people.

“What?” Heejin asked, looking around trying to find something out of the ordinary.

“I think I just saw my ex-girlfriend.” The older girl drowned her beverage nervously. “I think I’m gonna go.” _That’s why I don’t do parties._

“You’re sure? You don’t need to leave just ‘cause she got here, y’know.” Heejin tried to reason, she didn’t want the girl to leave just yet.

“Yeah, but if she sees me she’ll try and talk to me and that’s the last thing I want.” _Staying was a bad choice._ She knew something horrible would happen. _Murphy’s law exists for a reason._

“So let’s play hide and seek without the seeking part. It’s going to be fun.” Heejin said excitedly as if she just had the best idea ever “C’mon.”

Jungeun laughed at the girl’s excitement. She didn’t want the displeasure of bumping into her ex and ruining what was left of her patience, but for some reason the girl standing in front of her made her want to stay and follow Haseul’s advice “Okay.”

Heejin gave her the biggest smile she could manage, grabbing a vodka with a hand and Jungeun’s hands with the other and dragged her to the other side of the house where she thought the girl’s ex wouldn’t be.

After what felt like hours, Jungeun realised she was having fun. It was a unusual night, of course, one that she had not assigned for and far from what she thought her night would turn out to be, but she wasn’t complaining. Indulging herself to cup after cup, she got the drunkiest she’s ever been. Heejin even introduced her to a few people, that Jungeun reluctantly admitted weren’t as bad as she first thought.

One of them being the bleach blonde for whom she'd selled earlier that night, that she came to learn the name to be Jinsoul, a senior cheerleader that just so happened to be one of Sooyoung’s regular costumers. Of course they shared a joint together, bonding over what Jungeun assumed was the only thing they had in common. Heejin out of curiosity joined them, only to give up after a coughing fit that made the other two laugh their asses off. Jinsoul then excused herself on the excuse of getting the munchies and needing to eat, leaving Heejin and Jungeun to find another distraction. 

After some convincing, Heejin got to drag Jungeun near a group of people dancing and Jungeun would deny if ever asked, but ended up dancing along with the people she could swear she hated hours ago. The mix of weed and alcohol in her system doing wonders to erase her social awkwardness and prejudices. The music had just changed and she was in the middle of taking a break when she noticed a more than familiar pair of eyes looking her way. 

“Oh fuck, I think she saw me.”

Heejin whose attention was on the music turned so quickly, Jungeun thought she resembled the girl from the Exorcist “There’s a girl coming our way.” She said, turning again to face the older girl.

“That’s her.” Jungeun wanted to scream. The last thing she wanted was Doyeon ruining her good mood. _Why can’t she leave me alone? _They broke up months ago, there’s nothing for them to talk “Fuck!!!”

“Come, we can hide from her again.” Heejin grabbed her hand and was ready to drag the girl away again when she stopped her. 

“No, she’s seen me already.” _There’s no point in hiding now_, she wanted to say. Jungeun was seconds away from throwing up. The sudden feeling of being suffocated from the lack of fresh air and the anxiety mixed with alcohol wasn’t helping at all.

“Kiss me.” Heejin suddenly suggested. 

Jungeun looked at her incredulously “What?” She must’ve heard it wrong.

“If you kiss me she won’t come bother you. Trust me.“ Heejin tried to explain and all Jungeun needed was a look to her ex-girlfriend and how close she was to reach them before her brain decided to take the girl’s advice and close the gap between them in one go.

It was merely a press of lips, neither of them having the guts to deepen it, but it was enough to make Jungeun melt in the soft touch, sending wild tremors along her nerves. It ended as quickly as it started, but for the girl’s high state of mind it seemed like it lingered through all eternity.

Unfortunately she couldn’t even enjoy the tingling afterglow of it, because the minute she pulled away she was rushed back to reality by the awful feeling of nausea still clawed at her throat. She tried to suppress it, but it was too late. Everything was _too_ much. She barely remembered to distance herself from Heejin before throwing up on the floor. Emptying her stomach and apparently her soul deciding to go with it because seconds later everything went black.


	2. ii.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates were made on this chapter on september 24th, 2020

The next day was when things really started to go downhill.

Jungeun was way deep into her sleep when she felt and heard something trying to bring her back to reality, but still wasn’t enough to force her eyes open.

“Jungeun!” She heard more clearly. It was her sister and by the sound of it she wasn’t happy “Just answer me!”

Without opening her eyes, Jungeun rolled to the side and hide her face in one of the pillows on the couch “15 more minutes, please?”

There was a pause before Chungha consented “Fine, 15 minutes. I’ll fix you some breakfast, but I want an explanation to why you’re sleeping in the couch and smelling like you spent a night on a dumpster.” She said before letting the younger lay for awhile longer.

When she heard the sound of pans on the stove and something frying was when Jungeun finally raised her heavy eyelids half way only for them to fall shut. She didn’t want to face her sister when she was feeling like shit, but she knew the older woman would drag her by her feet if needed so she raised her eyes again, dry mouth sticky with thick saliva before swinging her bare feet to the carpet.

Once on her feet the room swayed almost causing Jungeun to loose balance. It hurt to move. It was like the flu only self-inflicted, which meant she'd get no sympathy from her sister.

_Why the fuck do I do this things?_ This feeling meant she'd had some fun the night before but somehow it wasn't there in her memory.

“Are you gonna start talking or should I start texting your friends?” She heard once she reached the kitchen.

She sat down in one of the chairs and not even a second after Chungha placed a cup of water and a plate full of eggs, bacon and sausages in front of her. The perfect recipe to cure a hangover.

“Can I eat first? I’m starving and my stomach is hurting and I’m pretty sure it’ll only go away once I eat.” Jungeun asked in hoarse voice, already grabbing her knife and fork, going for the kill.

Chungha waited with her chin propped on the palm of her hands until Jungeun had eaten half of the things on her plate, watching every moviment she did before asking “So?”

Jungeun took a deep breath and a sip from her water before answering “I dunno what happened, Chung. I went to a party. And before you ask I don’t know how I got home or whatever I did there. I was clearly drunk if the headache I’m feeling is any sign of it and I probably barfed somewhere, so that’s what you’re smelling.”

Her sister closed her eyes trying to manage her anger “Fuck, Jungeun! I promised dad I’d take care of you.” She hissed, bringing her right hand to massage her temple.

Jungeun grimaced a little at the sight of her sister losing her temper “It’s a one time thing, I don’t like drinking exactly because it makes me feel like dying afterwards. So don’t worry, ‘s not gonna happen again.” She promised while eating the last piece left of bacon.

“You better not do it again. You’re only 17. You can’t go out thinking you’re some grown ass woman when you’re still just a kid.” Jungeun was ready to protest saying she _wasn’t_ a kid when Chungha corrected herself “_Legally_ a kid. And what kind of party did you went where they gave alcohol to underage kids?”

Jungeun rolled her eyes before dropping her head into her hands “Geez, Chung, I already said I’m not going to fucking do it again. Just take my word already and please, just _please_ shut the hell up because you argueeing is only adding to the pain in my head.”

She heard her sister take a deep breath, trying to calm herself “I’m not going to tell dad this time, but if it ever happens again I’m calling him.” She warned in a threatening voice.

“Whatever.” Jungeun signed slushing back into her chair and closing her eyes hoping her sister would take the hint and cut the lecture short.

“I’m going to Shownu’s place, we have a gig later today so I don’t know what time I’ll be back.”Chungha said after a few minutes observing her sister. She hated seeing the younger like that and a part of her felt responsible for not paying enough attention to her “Drink lots of water, there’s painkillers in the bathroom cabinet and don’t even think about going out tonight.”

Jungeun opened one of her eyes to stare at her sister incredulously “You know you can’t force me to stay if you’re not here to supervise it.”

“I’m not forcing you to anything, I’m simply suggesting you should stay home today.”

“Yeah, right.” The younger snickered before closing her eye again.

The only indicator that her sister had left the kitchen and was somewhere else in their apartment was the sound of her footsteps, but the brunette was too preoccupied in keeping her breakfast in to care about what her sister did.

After what felt like several dreadful minutes later, she heard her sister’s voice close once again.

“I love you, you know that, right?” Chungha declared and that was enough to force Jungeun to open both of her eyes and look at the woman that practically raised her by herself.

Jungeun nodded “Love you too.”

Chungha kissed her temple and patted her shoulders “Call me if you need anything.” She said going to the door, leaving Jungeun and her headache to fend for themselves.

The younger remained in the kitchen for awhiledoing nothing before coming to the obvious conclusion that the shining bright light comming from the windows wasn’t helping and her head still felt like an axe was planted in it so she should probably try and sleep it off. It was saturday after all and she had a quiet apartment all to herself.

Her phone pinged with message after message but she decided to ignore it until she was ready to face whatever she did the previous night which was more likely never. Or when she wakes up, whichever she has the guts to follow through.

She went to her room and after finally changing to something comfier she fell to her bed, curling under the duvet and closing her eyes, sleep coming not long after.

* * *

She wasn’t sure of how many hours she slept, but it was already close to dusk when her brain decided to wake her up. She stayed in bed for some time, giving her body the remaining time to fully rest before forcing herself to go and take a more than deserved shower.

The cold water on her face felt refreshing and instantly she wished she could wash her brain free of the toxins too. But since she couldn’t do it, she decided to go to the next good thing and fuck it up even more. _If you can’t beat them, join them, isn’t that what they said?_

So after taking the shower and changing to her pyjamas, she went to the living room, turned on the tv on a music channel and started rolling her sacred joint. After lighting it up she decided to unlock her phone, the weed helping her control her anxiety over what she was about to see.

She opened her phone only to find several messages from her friends and her sister. Chungha had called her 3 times and sent her about 5 messages and all Jungeun did was open the chat and reply a “**just woke up, i’m feeling better. good luck on your gig xx**” without even bothering to read the messages. Her friends chat however she couldn’t ignore not even if she wanted it. Messages ranging from “**so, how much did you sell??**” from Sooyoung, “**are you okay? call me when you see this!**” of course that one came from Haseul and “**is it true you threw up in some random girl?**” from Hyunjin.

_What the fuck happened last night?_

She was starting to overthink everything that could’ve possibly happened the previous night when she received a new message from an unknown number. She opened it without giving it a second thought. It read "**hi :)**" followed by a second text "**how are u feeling?**" and Jungeun’s first instinct was to reply back asking who it was, not even thinking it could possibly be a troll. She received a third short text with the mysterious person’s name “**it’s heejin**”. _Heejin? I don’t kn–_

**unknown: we met at chae’s party yesterday...**

jungeun: ohh right, what’s up

**heejin: just wanted to check on u... u were pretty wasted :P**

jungeun: i know, i can’t even remember how i got home

**heejin: ahh vivi unnie and her gf took u**

_Oh, that makes sense. Need to thank Seulie for it... Wait, is she..._

jungeun: i hope u r not the girl i threw up on...

**heejin: i’m afraid i am lol**

jungeun: omg, i’m so so sorry rhejhrjrje i can’t even remember doing it, my friends just told me

**heejin: dw abt it, and u didn’t exactly threw up on me, i was just standing next to it when it happened**

jungeun: still... i pride myself in not doing this kind of stuff... i feel like i fucked up last night, if i could erase yesterday i would..

**heejin: oh**

jungeun: i’m really sorry :(

**heejin: seriously dw abt it, we also had fun so it’s all good**

jungeun: really?

**heejin: yeah, totally**

jungeun: wish i could remember... but good to know;)

**heejin: :)**

Jungeun had a vague memory of meeting Heejin the previous night. She knew the girl to be the one that had instructed her how to find Chaewon, but she didn’t remember much after that. She remembered trying to leave the party when Haseul convinced her to stay and start drinking when she saw Doyeon, but everything else was a blur. Being a regular smoker already messed with her memories, but combining it with all the drinking she did she was bound not to remember a single thing she did.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what the girl meant by them having fun since she was a very reserved person and rarely interacted with other people beside her friends. If they had talked and even partied together it meant she was beyond drunk and she knew a drunk Jungeun was prone to make bad decisions, so she decided to ignore the girl’s last message and focus on answering her friends. It was better if her memories about the party remained in the dark, never to see the light.


	3. iii.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates were made on this chapter on september 24th, 2020

On Sunday night Jungeun decided to skip school the next day. She regretted going to that stupid party in the first place and having to once again face her enemies Monday morning first thing wasn’t exactly how she wanted to start the new week.

Skipping class wasn’t something she did very often. She could be a pothead or whatever, but she still cared about her grades. In fact she was one of the cleverest students in her school, maintaining a impressive high GPA that many would doubt about, given her life choises and seemed lack of interest in academic matters. 

On Monday she was lucky that her sister decided to go to her boyfriend’s house earlier than usual, leaving Jungeun to put her plan into action. _A whole morning to myself._

Well, if she was in fact lucky she’d have the day off work too, but unfortunately that wasn’t how things happened in her life, so she had until her shift time to make the most of the free time.

She spent most of her morning binge-watching cartoons on tv, too lazy to bother and change the channel. She had made herself some breakfast that mainly consisted in sliced up fruits and a bowl of cereal, which for her was more than enough.

She even fell asleep a little after smoking the rest of the joint she saved from the other night. But once she woke up she realised she was bored and she’d appreciate her friends’ visit. She texted “**not going to class today, who wants to come over for a session?**” and waited until one of them answered her.

* * *

On school Heejin was having a different type of morning. Unlike Jungeun, Heejin couldn’t afford to skip class since she was co-captain of their school’s cheerleading squad, which meant she couldn’t lose any practice or the captain would make sure to make her pay for it in the next practice.

“Heekkie, can I talk to you for a sec?” Said leader approached the girl before they started practicing.

“Sure, what’s up?” Heejin wiped a sweat from her forehead, the harsh sun shining down on them.

The blonde smiled sweetly at her, hands in her waist “I saw your little stunt at my party, last friday.”

_What? _“What?”

“I saw you making out with that girl before she ruined my carpet.” Chaewon grimaced at the memory. Her parents were _not_ happy the next day.

Heejin was at loss for words. Should she lie about it? She didn’t think people would pay attention to what they’d done, but looking back, that was kind of the whole point in kissing Jungeun in the first place. That and the fact that she lowkey wan–

“We weren’t making out.” She felt to urge to say because they weren’t making out, _unfortunately_. They did kiss, for sure, but saying they made out was a stretch.

The HBIC rolled her eyes “I know what I saw, there’s no point in denying it.”

Heejin knew fighting her would end badly and she wasn’t in the mood of facing the leader’s rage. No one ever was. God only knows what happened to people that went against the blonde’s words.

“So, what if I did?” She asked defiantly.

“Do you even know who she is?”

_Of course._ “Yes.”

“I don’t think you do. She’s a drug addict.” Chaewon pointed out as if it was the most obvious thing and she couldn’t believe her teammate hadn’t noticed before.

Heejin had to physically refrain herself from rolling her eyes. Sure, Jungeun likes to get high but so does lots of people in school, right?

“That’s a little too harsh, Chae. She smokes weed, everyone does, what does it have to do with anything?”

“It has that you don’t want to get involved with someone like her.”

This time she couldn’t control her will to laugh at the absurdity of what she was hearing. Was Chaewon really playing the hypocrite now? “You smoked weed in your own party. You literally called for a dealer.” She tried to remind her.

Chaewon’s smile grew bigger “She was the onehat sold it to me.”

“No, she said she wasn’t the dealer you asked for.” Heejin remembered everything that happened that night and she was pretty sure Jungeun denied being the dealer Chaewon had invited.

“She’s not, but that’s not the point. The point is that regardless if she’s Yves or not she’s still going to underage parties selling drugs to teenagers.”

“I think you’re exaggerating.”

Heejin started to walk to the nearest teammate in the hopes of getting away from that conversation when Chaewon grabbed her by the arms, stopping her.

“I’m just telling you the truth, Heejin. You don’t want to associate with that kind of people. What it could do to your reputation.... Your place in the squad...”

_Is she serious?_

“Are you threatening me?” The brunette yanked her arm from the other’s touch.

“Of course not.” The blonde feigned innocence “Consider it a warning. More like a suggestion. I’m just looking out for you, Heekkie.” She patted the girl’s arms, right were she’d just grabbed.

Heejin took a step back from the girl’s reach “I’m sorry, Chaewon, but what I do with my life is none of your business. And not that I own you any explanation, but what you saw it wasn’t us hooking up or anything. We were only trying to get back at her ex-girlfriend, nothing else.”

Chaewon seemed satisfied with the answer since her smile went from a frightening one to a more confident. “Great. Let’s keep it that way.” And with that she left to get ready for their practice.

Heejin stood in the same place replaying that conversation in her head. She couldn’t affoard losing her position in the squad. She had worked her ass off to deserve the co-captain position and she wouldn’t let Chaewon take it from her, but is wasn’t like what she did was wrong. And it wasn’t like it’d happen again. Why was Chaewon so bothered by a kiss? Other girls in the group did so much worse not even bothering to hide, it didn’t make sense why she was after her.

“What did she want?” Jinsoul’s voice cut through her train of thought.

The blonde that had caught the end of the conversation came to stand next to the smaller girl. Her hands holding glittering pom-poms.

“Nothing.” Heejin said with a smile, trying to dismiss the girl’s worries.

“It didn’t look like it.”

Jinsoul was one of the few girls in the squad that she was close with and even thought she could confide in her what the other blonde had just told her, she just wasn’t in the mood to continue that conversation.

“Just to know where’s Jiwooming.” She lied.

Jinsoul smiled, seemingly buying the lie “Yeah. She’s been missing a lot of practices lately. What’s with it that?”

Jiwoo’s could be Heejin’s best friend, but not even she knew what the girl was up to “No idea, but I’m sure she’ll be here any second.”

For Jiwoo’s own good she hoped the girl was only running late this time. If Chaewon was threatening her position because of something unrelated to the squad, she knew her best friend would never stand a chance against the leader if she was blatantly missing practice without a good excuse.

* * *

“So, Yerimmie told me she saw you–“ Hyunjin started, passing the bong to Jungeun.

The older girl rolled her eyes because she couldn’t believe her friend was bringing back that stupid party again. They were having such a great time not talking about it. She didn’t know why people were so hang up on her life when there was party after party every single week and things far more interesting then her throwing up in some chick usually happened.

“Fuck, Hyun. Can we stop talking about that stupid party already?” Jungeun growled, cutting her friend.

All she wanted was to spend some quality time with Hyunjin, since both Hyejoo and Sooyoung had something to do after class and Haseul had work. And by quality time in Jungeun’s terms it meant smoking their brain out and talk about the randomness thing they could find. In their case in that moment it was to pay attention to Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle on tv and not talk about her stupid mistakes.

And they were doing just that, until Hyunjin decided to ruin the mood bringing back what Jungeun wanted to forget ever happened.

“Sure. I just thought you’d want to hear what she told me.” The dark haired girl said in a cynical tone.

Jungeun took a hit and inhaled “No, I don’t wanna know. I’m glad I can’t remember most of it and I’d like to keep it that way.”

One of the real perks of being completely shitfaced. She didn’t remember most of that night and she had the lingering feeling something relevant must’ve happened besides throwing up on someone, but for some reason she was sure it wasn’t somenthing she wanted to remember. If her brain somehow blocked whatever memory she had of it, it was probably for a good reason and she’d rather keep it like that.

“But this is kind of a big one.” Hyunjin insisted.

“Whatever you want to say, I’m not interested in knowing. It’s something stupid I did when I was nowhere near to make good decisions that if I remember I’ll cringe at myself and that will make me feel discomfortable for a long time, so just drop it, okay?”

Hyunjin turned to stare at her friend for a moment, trying to figure what she should do. Part of her just wanted to tell her already what her sister had told her because she knew her friend would want to know it happened, but the more logical part told her to keep her mouth shut and let Jungeun find out for herself. Which is clearly what her friend wanted.

“If you say so, geez.”

“_Thank you._” Jungeun said exaggeratedly. She was a huge believer that things happen for a reason and if she doesn’t remember then that’s how it’s supposed to be.

Hyunjin took a look at her phone. 4:45pm. They had been going way longer than she thought “Shit, I gotta go or my mom will yell at me for running late again.”

She yanked the bong from Jungeun’s hands and took one last hit, enought to knock her out of reality for the next hours. She felt a little dizzy after it, but it was worth it since she wouldn’t be able to get high for the rest of the day.

Jungeun handed her school bag and took the bong back to herself. Hyunjin simply stood up without saying a word and went to the door, the brunette not even bothering standing from the couch to accompany her. It wasn’t like she’d do it when she was so comfy right where she was.

“I’ll text you later.” Hyunjin said before closing the door, leaving Jungeun to her last alone moments before she needed to get up and start getting ready to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cc: @xheelip


	4. iv.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates were made on this chapter on september 24th, 2020

The day she finally went to school everything seemed to have gone back to normal. Not that she was waiting for anything else, really. Jungeun was what people would call _unapproachable_ and if she was to be honest she actually did it on purpose. She just felt uncomfortable next to people, especially her classmates and the mere thought of having to socialize with them was one that made her feel nauseous. So everyday she’d arrive at school with her earphones on and leave the same way, all while with an angry expression plastered on her face, a clear sign for people to _fuck off_ and don’t try and talk to her. Of course if people did try and talk to her she’d answer back but very few people were willing to try their lucky with the aloof girl and for that she was grateful.

She waited until the end of fourth period, when she’d made plans to spend break time with her friends behind the benches, their usual spot. The moment the bell rang, she took her time to leave the classroom, the crowded hallways keeping her from wanting to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. She packed her stuff inside her backpack and grabbed the camera she’d brought. Photography was one of her main hobbies. For Jungeun it was far more enchanting and interesting seeing the world through the camera’s viewfinder than trying to perceive life with naked eyes.

After replying to a text she received from Hyunjin she noticed there was less commotion happening outside the class, so she took that as her cue to finally leave to go find her friends. While walking she passed by a group of cheerleaders all gathered together in a table, with its leader sitting in the middle. Normally Jungeun ignored them altogether, but Chaewon and a couple of other girls kept staring at her and that made the brunette nervous. She used to be invisible to those girls, but now, apparently after that stupid party she came into their radar. _Fuck me_.

Her prideful side made her stare back, until the girls’ were out of her sight line. She kept walking in the direction of the football field, snapping pictures on her way there until she finally reached her friends. She took advantage of the fact they hadn’t spotted her yet to take a picture of them, liking how they looked immersed inside their own bubble, before making her presence known.

“Lippie!” Haseul exclaimed once she got a glimpse of the younger girl with her face hidden behind her camera.

“I thought we agreed you wouldn’t call me that anymore, Seul.” Jungeun grumbled, rolling her eyes. _Not that stupid nickname again._

“I’m pretty sure you’ve earned it back.” Haseul replied with a knowing smirk.

“What that’s supposed to mean?” Jungeun asked with narrowed eyes, taking a seat besides Hyejoo. She missed the way Hyunjin looked at Haseul, shaking her head with a pleading look in her face, mouthing for her to _shut up_.

“Nothing! She means nothing.” Hyunjin said hurriedly, trying to dismiss Haseul’s words. Jungeun turned to look at her with a suspicious look, before giving her camera to Haseul, that had stretched her arms signalizing she wanted to take a turn on taking pictures.

“Yeah, never got why y’all call Jungie, Lippie.” Hyejoo questioned, her eyes glued to her Nintendo Switch.

“Oh, ‘cause when she was dating she wouldn’t stop making out with her ex. You’d look at them and they’d be locking lips like their life depended on it.” Hyunjin explained, with a disgusted face, before taking a bite of her fat sandwich.

Jungeun punched Hyunjin in the arm, making the younger lose her balance and almost fall to the ground “Shut up, that’s not true!”

Hyunjin laughed back, holding her food tightly “Dude, why do you think we hated being close to you? You ignored us in favor of devouring your ex’s face.”

“Fuck you!”

Jungeun continued to push her friend away until Hyunjin pushed her in retaliation and soon they started to playfully shove each other back and forth.

“Can you two stop with this?” Haseul hissed, grabbing both girls’ hands to stop them before their little fight play turned into a real one. Jungeun and Hyunjin stared at each other for a moment before they both bursted into laughter.

Jungeun turned to Hyejoo “She’s lying, don’t believe a word she says.”

“Nah. Now it totally makes sense, I remember seeing you two always all over each other.”

“Not you too, Hyejoo.” Jungeun pleaded, fake trying to take the Nintendo from the younger’s hand, who swiftly deflected the attack.

“Don’t even think about it,” Hyejoo sneered, changing places to go sit next to Haseul “Lippie.”

Jungeun was ready to follow the girl and this time really take her game away before Haseul intersected “Anyway, how are you doing, Jungie? All good?”

“Yep.” Jungeun nodded, sitting back in her place “Where’s Soo?”

Haseul shrugged “No idea. She texted me saying she’d try and find us later.”

Sooyoung was the only person missing from their usual get together. It wasn’t normal of her to miss it, usually being the first one to arrive at their spot.

“She’s acting really weird lately.” Hyunjin commented while making weird faces for Haseul’s to photograph “I bet she’s hooking up with a dumb bimbo from the cheerleading squad.”

“Hey! I date a cheerleader.”

“I don’t mean all of them. Vivi’s fine. So is my sister, but everyone else I’m pretty sure they share a single brain cell. And of course that’s the kind of people Soo’s interested in. You remember when she dated that Jennie girl last year and we could barely keep a conversation with her.”

“You do know Jennie got a _full_ scholarship for KAIST, right? That girl’s a genius! I wish _I_ had her brain.” Haseul admitted.

“And you’re only saying that ‘cause you totally had a crush on her.” Jungeun snickered, side eyeing her best friend.

“As if.” Hyunjin hissed, pushing Jungeun one more time.

They continued to argue over Hyunjin’s obvious crushes and teorizing about Sooyoung’s strange disappearance until the end of break, when they all bit their goodbyes and parted different ways knowing they probably wouldn’t see each other until the next day.

* * *

Jungeun was in the middle of the last period, trying to stay awake for the remaining half hour when her phone buzzed announcing a new text. She unlocked her phone to find it to be from Sooyoung. "**wanna a ride?**" _What? _She frowned, not understanding why her friend was offering her a ride out of the blue. Especially considering she hadn’t seen the girl all day... But whatever the reason behind it, a ride to work on Sooyoung’s posh car sounded much better than taking two buses to get to the diner.

She quickly texted her friend back accepting the ride and agreed to meet by her locker.

_Weird, _Jungeun thought, but decided to not waste her time trying to figure it out why her friend had sent that when she knew she’d find out quick enough when she saw Sooyoung.

* * *

“Why weren’t you at the benches today?” Jungeun asked while opening the passenger’s door to Sooyoung’s Santa Fe.

One of the greatest perks of riding her friend’s car was having full control over the sound system. So not even a moment after Sooyoung took off, Jungeun readily plugged her phone to the car’s bluetooth before clicking on an saved playlist and soon enough they were surrounded by the melodic sounds of lo-fi.

“I had some stuff to do.” Sooyoung answered shortly and Jungeun knew not to push over the matter. If she wanted to tell her, she would’ve done it. If she didn’t... well, it wasn’t Jungeun’s place to know.

After a few moments of driving in silence, Sooyoung leaned over Jungeun to reach for the glover compartment, grabbing something before throwing it to the younger’s lap “This is for you, for helping me.”

Jungeun analyzed what her friend had just thrown her: a zip bag with what she assumed was an ounce of Sooyoung’s best kush. _So that’s why she offered the ride..._ Her eyes shot up to her friend, in surprise “_Fuck_. Thanks, bro.” She opened the bag to smell its content, her eyelids falling shut for a moment. _Oh my god, it smells amazing. _Sooyoung merely chuckled at her.

“I’m still not dealing again though.” Jungeun recalled the message she had sent the older girl the day after the party.

Sooyoung turned to look at her, rolling her eyes “C’mon, I’m sure it wasn’t _that_ bad.”

“Uh, you weren’t there to know?” _It was _that_ bad._

“Dude, you can’t even remember what happened, what are you complaining of? That’s the best thing! You get to do shit, then forget about it. No regrets afterwards.”

“You know I hate losing control,” Jungeun started, but the skeptical look her friend gave her stopped her mid sentence. Sooyoung’s eyes were going from the younger’s face to the stash still in her hand as if saying ‘are you sure about that?’ “_too much _control,” Jungeun went on explaining “the feeling of blacking out and not remembering shit is something I don’t want to feel ever again. Besides it’s not very professional of me to go selling it when I’m a user.”

Sooyoung laughed at that “This ain’t a drug cartel Jungie. It’s just weed and even _I_ smoke from time to time, but I see your point.”

“Where were you, by the way?” Jungeun asked, trying to change subjects, eyes still trained on her little gift. Her hands were itching with want and need to roll herself a joint, but she restrained from doing it knowing her friend didn’t like having any type of cigarettes lit inside her car.

“Some stuff I’m having to deal with, nothing to worry about.” Sooyoung said in a hurry, trying to dismiss her friend’s worries.

Her tone made Jungeun turn her attention to her “Anything you feel like sharing?” She asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

“Nope.” Was all the older brunette said and once again, Jungeun knew not to push over.

She nodded “Anyway, I forgot to tell you but I’m going to the diner today. I have an early shift.”

* * *

When her sister suggested she should find a job to occupy her time, the only thing Jungeun could find was an waitress position at a new diner opening close to their apartment owned by her ex-girlfriend's sister. It didn’t pay much and the tips were shitty, but she only really needed the money to spend on herself, so it was more than enough.

It wasn’t perfect and was far from being what she’d normally choose to spend her time doing, but it wasn’t all bad. Basically working at a diner meant both edible free food on her break and time to binge-watch her shows on her phone during the lulls between customers. It also meant constantly dealing with costumers and everyone that knew Jungeun knew that she wasn’t a peoples person.

That’s why normally she stayed busy back in the kitchen with Vivi while Seoyeon and Ten took care of the customers. Not today, though. For some reason, unknown to Jungeun, Seoyeon had shyly approached her when she arrived and kindly asked her to switch places to which the older girl complied, because why the hell not?

Luckily it wasn’t a particular busy day and there was only one costumer sitting on one of the barstools, eating a burger while Ten idly cleaned the glasses behind the counter. Jungeun was behind the counter staring at the diner door as two girls walked in. They weren’t strangers to her, but she couldn’t quite place were she knew them from. One of the many consequences of being a heavy smoker, after awhile you just start losing part of your memory and Jungeun was already in a point beyond recovery.

She watched as they found their way to a secluded booth, each girl sitting at different sides facing each other. They were talking animatedly while they flipped through the menu and Jungeun took that as her cue.

She grabbed a pen from behind her ear, and a small notepad from her apron pocket, the papers covered with dribbles she did just minutes ago.

“Welcome to Loona’s. You need a minute with the menu, or you already know what you gonna get?” She asked once she reached their booth.

The blonde girl lifted her head from the menu to look at the waitress and smiled recognizing the younger girl.

“Hey! Jungeun, right?” She asked looking at the young waitress’ name-tag.

Jungeun did a double check on her own name-tag before answering “Yeah.”

“I’m Jinsoul, we met at Chae’s party.” Jinsoul introduced herself, smiling at her.

_Right._

“Yeah, right. I remember.” _She’s the nice blonde that’s also a pothead_, Jungeun remembered, _so the other one must be_ “Heejin, right?” She asked turning to look at the other girl.

“Yeah.” Heejin smiled and gave her a little wave.

_She’s in my class_, Jungeun realized remembering seeing the girl looking at her earlier that day when she was going to her seat. _The girl I threw up is in my class? Fuck._

“I didn’t know you worked here.” Jinsoul commented, looking past Jungeun to the counter “Is Vivi around?”

“No, it’s her day off.” Jungeun replied, looking between the two girls “Have you decided what you’re gonna get?”

Jinsoul lowered her eyes once again to the menu, giving it a thoughtful look “I’ll have a double bacon cheeseburger with side fries. A portion of onion rings and a strawberry milkshake.”

Heejin that was too busy shamelessly staring at Jungeun’s profile, turned to glare at her friend “Uh, a bit much?”

“What? I have the munchies, y’know.” Jinsoul said with a mischievous smirk looking at the waitress.

Jungeun smiled at that because she could relate to the blonde. The perkiest side of going high to work was that if things got too off hand she could always stuff herself with greasy food and cold beverages that’d both satiate her hunger and help her sober up.

She regretted not coming to work high today, though.

“And you?” She turned to Heejin again, the girl was looking at the menu and Jungeun took that as an nice opportunity to look at her. She noticed how seconds ago the girl was staring at her so in her mind it was only fair she’d get to do it too. But noticing how pretty the girl was started to make Jungeun nervous. _Why did I have to get shitfaced? Jesus. I can’t do a single thing right. That’s why I don’t go to parties..._

“I’ll have the chef’s salad and iced tea.”

“Boo, that’s boring, Heekkie. You didn’t invite me to a diner to eat salad and drink tea. No, you can do that boring stuff at home. And if you’re worried about Chae it’s not like she’ll know whatever you eat if she’s not here to see it.” Jinsoul pointed out with a wink.

Heejin laughed at her friend because yeah, she was right “Mm so I don’t know.” She went back to flipping through the menu, before stopping and looking at the young waitress “What do you suggest?”

Jungeun was taken back by the question, lost in her thoughts, but started to ramble whatever she could remember was in their menu “If you’re not in the mood for greasy food then I’d suggest pancakes or waffles. We have some really good french toast as well. And to accompany any of that I’d also order mint chocolate chip milkshake, it’s not very popular but it’s my favorite.”

At the mention of the milkshake flavor, Heejin’s eyes perked up “I love mint chocolate. I think I’ll have the french toast and the milkshake then.”

“Cool. I’ll be back with your orders.” She wrote them all down, tucking the pencil back behind her ear before walking back towards the kitchen to place the order, leaving the girls to go back to their talk and missing the way Heejin stared at her retreating figure.

After giving Seoyeon their order and fixing their milkshakes, Jungeun sat in one of the barstools, her phone in her hands while Ten continued to clean behind the counter.

“You know them?” He asked after he finished cleaning.

“Yep. We go to the same school.”

“They’re really pretty.” He commented, looking at her to see her reaction.

“I guess, I dunno.” Jungeun said without taking her eyes from her phone. She was changing the current song that was playing at the diner’s speakers, some loud thing from the charts that she couldn’t bear to listen to something more amicable like her melancholic playlist. Luckily their boss was very relaxed and didn’t care about what they did as long as they did their work.

Ten took the disinterested tone as a challenge “It’s time for you to move on from that girl, Jungeun. And don’t even try saying you already did because I know she’s still your lockscreen. I’ve seen it.”

Jungeun shut her phone off at hearing that and turned to glare at him “Why don’t you mind your own business, Ten?”

“You know the better way of getting over someone is getting under someone, nine.”

She smirked “If anything I’m a twelve, dude. And I’m not interested, thank you very much.”

Ten propped his chin on the palm of his hands “You should try. It’s been what? Four months you two broke up and you’re still sulking because of it when I know there’s girls trying to get with you.”

Jungeun snorted at that, _no one’s trying to get with me_ “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know damn well miss sleepy head over there is into you.” He silently pointed his head in the direction of their co-worker flipping a patty on the grill.

It’s true, she had noticed how Seoyeon acted around her, but for her it was nothing but amicable flirting without a real meaning behind it. The girl was very friendly to everyone, so of course Jungeun was going to be friendly back.

“Don’t say that.”

“I remember you gushing over how pretty she is when she first started working here, why don’t go for it now that you’re single?” Ten insisted in a whispered tone.

“I’m not gonna do anything with someone I’m forced to see everyday, especially in my work place. Things could go real south and I don’t know how I’d handle it.” Jungeun didn’t know what to do when a conflict arrived. She’d try and avoid most arguments and everything related if it meant don’t messing with the status quo.

"That coming from someone who chose to work on her ex-sister-in-law's diner. Yeah, right. Smart choice, kid." He mocked.

"Doyeon isn't going to come here while I'm working, she's not stupid. She knows my schedule and if not she can always ask her sister. I don't remember ever seeing her setting foot here after we broke up." Jungeun pointed out.

“Fair enough. What about the girls from your school? Ain't you insterested on getting to know them?” He said looking at the girls in the booth and Jungeun did the same.

She watched as they posed for selfies and rolled her eyes at how predictable they were “Yeah, nope.”

“Why not?”

“Because not, Ten. Besides, I wouldn’t even get a chance. Do you see the one with black hair?” She said, this time not moving to look at the girls but continuing once Ten nodded “That’s the girl I supposedly threw up on and to make things better I just realized she’s in the same class as I am.”

“Holy shit. Yeah, you’re not kissing that girl anytime soon. Maybe her friend, though.” He continued to analyze the girls. The blonde was someone he could easily picture his friend dating.

“Geez, dude. Can we stop with this conversation? It’s making me fucking uncomfortable. I’m fine the way I am.”

Ten rolled his eyes, but patted the girls arms trying to calm her “Already dropped it.”

At the same time she heard a ring signalizing the order was ready to serve. She grabbed the tray with the food, added their beverages and went to serve it.

“Here you go.” Jungeun said, placing their food in the table.

“Thanks.” Heejin thanked with a smile that Jungeun felt the need to reciprocate before retrieving to go back to behind the counter, proceeding to get nothing done because soon it was her break time and she just needed to get some fresh air.

Usually her break translated to smoke break, so she sneaked to the employee’s room and went straight to her locker, where her backpack with the stash Sooyoung had given her was hidden. She grabbed her smoke kit and proceeded to roll a joint real quick before grabbing her lighter and phone and going to the back door. She settled for going to the other side of the street, opposed to the diner’s entrance door and sat at the sidewalk, where she’d have more privacy to do what she wanted.

She watched the traffic for a bit while smoking, it wasn’t rush hour yet and the diner wasn’t in a particular busy street so there wasn’t too much movement. She grabbed her phone and placed her earphones in her ear, the song that was moments ago playing on the diner speaker’s, now playing just for her.

She doesn’t know how long she stayed like that, just listening to her songs, chiefing and scrolling through her social medias, completely immersed in her own little world when her mind wandered off to the two girl sitting at the diner, so she went on to search about them, and she continued to do so for the remaining of her break until she received a message from Ten telling her that her shift was almost over. She got up and after putting away her stuff inside her jeans pocket, she went straight to the front door, not bothering to do the right thing and enter through the back door, when her body collided with another one leaving the diner. Jinsoul.

“I’m sorry!”

“Don’t worry.” Jinsoul said with a knowing look and a playful smile.

_Does she think-I must be smelling..._

“I’m not–I wasn’t–“ Jungeun mumbled not knowing what to say. She was so used to lying that she completely forgot Jinsoul was a smoker too. She had to refrain herself from trying to sniff her own clothes to confirm her suspicions, knowing she wouldn’t be able to smell _it_ herself.

“All good, kiddo.” Jinsoul winked “We’re going, but nice seeing you. Let’s try and meet at school, yeah?” The blonde suggested energetically, passing through her with Heejin right behind her.

“Sure.” Jungeun complied automatically, not understanding why the girl she barely knew would suggest that.

“Bye, Jungeun.” Heejin said, once again with that bright smile plastered on her face.

It was starting to creepy Jungeun out so she just gave her a nod before finally going inside, where Ten was waiting for her with an impatient look on his face. It was finally his break and he too needed some fresh air, or what Jungeun knew to be an excuse to call his boyfriend.

She rolled her eyes at him and went to clean the girls’ table. Jungeun grabbed the check and cash, noticing that one of the them had left her a twenty for her tip. She pocket it hastily before moving to serve new customers that has just sat in one of the free booths.


	5. v.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates were made on this chapter on september 24th, 2020

**unknown: hey, it’s jinsoul**

_How the fuck are people getting my number?_

jungeun: heyy, what’s up

**jinsoul: wanna hotbox with me?**

“Damn” Jungeun said under her breath, stiffling a laugh before replying back.

jungeun: LMAOO ofc

jungeun: where do i met u?

**jinsoul: by the gates, do u mind skipping class??**

jungeun: not at all

**jinsoul: see u in 15**

Jinsoul had the perfect timing. Jungeun wasn’t really feeling like staying for the remaining two classes and an invite to skip it to do something fun instead was all she hoped for.

After agreeing to meet the older girl, she packed everything in her backpack, not wanting to wait a minute longer to leave the school grounds and as soon as the bell rang she was already on her way to the front door.

She walked to the school’s gates and waited for the cheerleader. Not even a minute after a shining blue car parked in front of her and honked.

“Get in loser, we’re going shopping.” Jinsoul head popped from the driver’s window and Jungeun snorted at that because _of course_ that girl would quote Mean Girls to her.

She entered the passengers seat, placing her backpack by her feet while the blonde took off at full speed. Jinsoul had her phone in one of her hands, trying to find the right song to play and after a few seconds scrolling through her Spotify she settled for what Jungeun could only assume was an 2000 pop playlist.

“Where do you wanna go?” Jinsoul asked, turning to look at the brunette.

“Dunno. You invited me and it’s your car, you choose. I’m good with whatever.” Jungeun shrugged, putting on the seatbelt. She usually didn’t really use it, but the blonde was racing through Seoul’s streets like she was in a 2 Fast 2 Furious remake and if that’s how the girl was behind the wheel then Jungeun’d rather being safe than sorry. A car accident wasn’t how she wanted to go.

“Okay. Let’s see.” The blonde cheerleader took a hard left and Jungeun hold onto her seat “There’s a secluded street close to the mall, we can hotbox there then grab something to eat afterwards.”

“Sounds good to me.” The younger agreed.

It took them about 7 minutes to get to the street close to the mall that Jinsoul had mentioned and after finding a hidden spot to park they started what they truly wanted. Jungeun offered to roll it and soon enough they were _puff-puff-pass_ to each other.

They stayed like that for what seemed like a really long time but it was truly only 20 minutes, neither of them providing much to maintain a real conversation. Jinsoul’s attention was on her phone, laughing occasionally to things she found online and only noticing the other girl’s presence when she was passing her the joint.

Junguen didn’t think that was rude or odd since she also didn’t like talking that much when high, so she took the opportunity to close her eyes, relax and just enjoy the hotbox atmosphere.

“By the way, how did you get my number?” she slowly asked, minutes after they shared their last drag, the question popping into her mind out of nowhere.

Jinsoul that was too entranced in a game on her phone, turned to the other girl with a thoughtful look on her face, trying to remember something.

“Oh, Heekkie gave it to me.” She said at last before going back to her game.

_Heekki? Hee–_ “Heejin?”

“Yep.” She agreed without taking her eyes from her phone.

Jungeun kept staring at her, processing the new information. It only made sense the other girl had given her number to her since she had it.

Not long after they decided it was time to look for something to eat since the munchies were starting to kick in, so they went straight to the mall’s food court.

While eating they finally started talking and to both of their surprises they noticed how they were actually very compatible. Jungeun learned that Jinsoul was a very relaxed person that’d love nothing more than to sit back and enjoy life, the same goal as hers, though her methods were way less hamrful and dramatic than Jungeun’s. She also had no idea what she wanted to do once she finished school and confided she rarely spent a week without getting high. All things Jungeun could relate. She was honestly surprised to know she shared so many interests with someone she never thought she’d befriend. A cheerleader, of all people.

After the most appetizing meal they had ever had they agreed they should find something to kill time and after seizing their options they opted for going to the movies, both in the mood to just sit and do nothing for the next couple of hours.

They ended up settling for an animation, since neither of them were in the right mood to try and sit straight through a complex story.

They were in the middle of the film, when Jinsoul started to oddly lean across the seats in front of them.

“Are you okay?” Jungeun asked quietly, after a few minutes of eyeing the girl like she went mad. She was having a hard time paying attention to the film, so literally anything else was far more interesting to her.

“I think I just saw my friend.” Jinsoul whispeared back, pointing to a couple about 5 seats in front of them.

“What?” Jungeun moved from her seat to try and take a better look at what Jinsoul was saying “Who?”

Jinsoul sat back into her chair, enjoying her sweet popcorn “Jiwoo. She’s from the squad. She’s been missing a lot of practices lately and everyone’s been wondering why.“

“Well, if she’s here with someone I think you just got your answer.” Jungeun replied in a conspiratorial tone and Jinsoul smiled realising the girl was probably right and she’d finally get to know the reason behind her friend’s disappearance. The great mystery that’s been going around the squad of ‘what the hell is happening to Jiwoo?’

When the film ended Jinsoul convinced Jungeun to stay back a little to see if the girl she saw was indeed her friend. She’d spent the remaining time of the film fidgeting in her seat, wanting to get go the bottom of the story once for all. Curiosity was Jinsoul’s weakness.

“Wait.” Jungeun said to no one in particular, once the supposed girl got up from her seat and the girl sitting next to her did the same.

“What?” Jinsoul asked, alarmed.

“I think the person with your friend is _my_ friend.” The younger girl said without taking her eyes from the girls going down the stairs. “My best friend.”

Jinsoul turned to look at their direction with narrowed eyes “Who?”

“Sooyoung.”

“Like Yves Sooyoung?”

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”

Jungeun shook her head “No, but that girl looks a lot like her.”

“C’mon, let’s go after them so we’ll get a better look” Jinsoul suggested once the couple had left the movie theatre.

They were walking at least 10 steps behind from the girls so they wouldn’t get caught.

“That’s definitely Soo.” Jungeun said once she got a full view on the girl from before. Sooyoung was in their school attire, minus the blazer, walking hand in hand with a girl Jungeun had never seen before.

“Do you think they are dating?” Jinsoul asked, already grabbing her phone and texting Heejin about what she was seeing.

“Maybe, but Soo’s not really one to date anyone. She’s been skipping class and being real secretive for awhile now, so that must be it.... I can’t believe it’s because she’s dating a cheerleader.”

“Heekkie and I were conspiring about the person Jiwoo’s escaping to see when we went to your diner.” Jinsoul commented.

“Really? Me and my friends were doing the same. I even asked her but she said nothing about it. What a fucking player!”

Jungeun was a little mad at Sooyoung for not telling her sooner. They were best friends after all, so why keep it a secret?

By now they were shamelessly following the couple when Jiwoo turned to point at something she had seen behind her, causing her to look at their direction.

“I think she just saw us.” Jinsoul whisper-shouted.

“Hide!” Jungeun panicked, grabbing Jinsoul’s hands and dragging her to stand behind a column. She didn’t want Sooyoung to know she saw them just yet. She wanted to use that as leverage later.

“They’re leaving.” Jinsoul said taking a peak.

“Let them.” Jungeun took her phone and started taking pictures of the fleeing couple. “I already got what I wanted. I’m so gonna blackmail Soo for this.”

_So that’s what she was doing when she said she had to handle some things out....Why is she hiding it?_

“Well, I’m hungry again, wanna hit a fast-food?” Jinsoul suggested after they came out from behind the column and started to walk to the mall’s front door.

“Can we make drive-thru though? Gotta go home right after, I still have to go to work.” Jungeun said, seeing the time on her phone. In her mind she was already late. Until she got home and started getting ready... It’d take time.

They’d spent most of their day out, not that she complaining. It’d been fun. Jinsoul was someone worth spending time with. Maybe they could hang at school too, maybe she could introduce her to her friends... She was most definitely not hanging with the cheer squad, but she wanted to be friends with the blonde.

“Oh, yeah. Totally forgot you got work.” Jinsoul opened the driver’s door while Jungeun entered the passenger’s seat.

“Damn, your memory is as bad as I mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next ch. will be from heejin’s pov w/ some heelip interaction yay 
> 
> hit me on twt/cc xheelip


	6. vi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates were made on this chapter on september 24th, 2020

Before the beginning of her junior year, Jeon Heejin didn’t even knew the existence of one Kim Jungeun. She was too focused on her future to pay attention to boys or girls around school.

In her mind she believed she had her fair share of dating the year before and since it didn’t go as planned, she should just give up on the matters of the heart altogether and concentrate all her efforts on maintaining her high GPA, keeping up with all the extracurriculars she’d signed up for and managing everything that came with being the co-captain of the cheerleading squad.

The last thing Heejin had time for was a silly school crush. But of course that didn’t stop her heart and mind from obsessing once she saw Kim Jungeun for the first time.

It was their first class on AP Biology and Heejin was one of the first students in class. Student after student arrived and soon Heejin realised she didn’t know any of them personally. Most were people she never paid attention and the few one she’s seen before were only from shallow pleasantries exchanged in the hallways or parties.

None seemed to really interest Heejin until one last student came in. The girl was 5 minutes late to class and Mr. Choi, their teacher, didn’t waste time in scolding the student for her delay. The girl, that later Heejin found out called Jungeun, gave him a faux apology, clearly not bothered by her mistake and went straight to the last desk in the back of the class.

Heejin was immediately intrigued by how that girl managed to look cool and pulled together when she was walking into class with obvious hand-me-down uniform and bruises under her eyes from lack of sleep. The girl still looked strikingly beautiful and her voice sounded like an angel. _Oh no._

Needless to say that Heejin’s plans to focus on class were flushed away.

The younger girl took the time to calmly observe Jungeun from across the class for the following months. They’d never exchanged a word, but that didn’t prevent Heejin from spending a good portion of her time admiring the girl's profile and noticing how cute she looked trying to fight the urge to sleep.

Most times than not Jungeun would nod off during a lecture or notes, only to jerk awake a few seconds later. The younger found that slightly amusing, especially when the older would try and check around to see if anyone saw it before returning her gaze to her notebook, only to fall asleep again a few minutes later.

Truth be told, after months of watching the girl, Heejin had gotten to a point where she was sure that little crush of hers was completely one-sided and she’d never ever get the chance to befriend the girl, nevertheless date her. She was more than fine only admiring Jungeun from afar, in a complete platonic way. Especially because they were from complete different crowds and the chances of their world colliding were small to none.

Or so Heejin thought.

Months went by until a week ago fate decided to intervene in the form of one weirdass party and the situation that Heejin was sure she had under complete control went from platonic to real really fast.

That friday night was forever attached to her memory as it kept replaying in her mind over and over again ever since it happened. _All because Chaewon decided to throw a party and decided she wanted to risk her life and do drugs for the first time_, Heejin remembered with a snort.

And what were the odds that the reason why Jungeun showed up there was because the girl that was required to be there, Yves or whatever, was actually somewhere else with her best-friend Jiwoo–that had ditched the party without an explanation at the time–because they’re secretly dating? Certainly the odds weren’t that high, but Heejin was living proof it could happen, after watching front row destiny play in her favour.

Not that it was that much of a favour when after she lived her own twisted fairytale, everything crashed in the blink of an eye. Literally.

Finally being able to kiss the girl she’s been crushing for the past months? Awesome. Having the same girl throw up on her and then forget everything that happened, including that incredible kiss? Not so awesome.

So after the party she took her little miracle with a grain of salt and decided to keep her distance from the older girl, like it’d always been. _Because _her_ not remembering is a sign for me to leave it like it is and be grateful for the little I was spared_, is something she’d often tell herself.

Well, sort off. That kind of thought was definitely a factor why she still had yet to talk to the girl since she last did it when she decided to stalk Jungeun at her workplace. But honestly the only problem was that Heejin just lacked the courage to go up to the older girl and talk to her, simple as it sound. She had her mind set that she’d end up being rejected if she tried anything and that’d be a blow to her pride that she just couldn’t take.

So she settled in keeping a cool, outward indifference to Jungeun, pretending she didn’t even existed, before fate decided to test her for the second time, almost exactly two weeks after the party.

She was watching Mr. Choi finish writing on the black board, as usual, when came the pre-strike.

“What you have in front of you is a proposal for the science fair. You and your designated partner have three weeks to decide on what you’re going to do, create it, and present it at the fair. Many of you have your grade on the line here, so I’d suggest you consider participating before you decide that you don’t want to,” Mr. Choi advised, glancing at a few students in particular at the back of the class. Somehow she had a feeling that look was directed to her secret crush.

“I’m also requiring a poster presentation and a written report to hand me beforehand.” The class chorused a groan as he continued “As I’ve mentioned you'll be split into groups of two. And before you pounce, _I’ll_ be picking the pairs. Earlier today I placed the partner assignments up on the board. It’s up to you and your partner if you both will be participating on the fair or not. However, before you go look at it and split up, we have to finish this overview. I would advise taking notes, as very few of you are likely to read the textbook.”

He continued with his class while Heejin’s pondered her availability to do this project. If she decided to do this, it’d be the third project she’d agreed to that needs to be finished before the end of the month and she knew it wouldn’t be a good deal since besides doing all this work she was also packed with cheer practice and all the extracurricular activities she was part of.

But it wasn’t in Heejin’s nature to turn down a chance to pump up her grades. She was a greedy overachiever and if she was given any chance to rise her chances of getting accepted to her dream college, she’d do it without thinking too much about the effort she’d need to put to accomplish that. It’d be rushed for sure, but after getting the A+ she was confident she’d receive, it’d be worth it.

She was so immersed inside her own plan, organising her schedule and creating strategies to manage all of that, that she didn’t notice that the day’s lecture was over and the students were finally allowed to look up the board.

Heejin waited until there wasn’t a line and got up to take a look at it.

She wasn’t very picky when it came to partnership since she got along with most people from her school, but being the perfectionist that she is, she just hoped it was someone that’d take it as serious as she did. If they weren’t she’d find a way to do this by herself.

Heejin’s eyes scanned the list of names in front of her until she found her own, followed by—

Kim Jungeun.

Her eyes grew twice its size. _No way._ She took a second look at the list to confirm if what she read was actually real and not something her brain fabricated to give her false hope. _Nope, definitely real. What do I do? What do I do? Wha–_

“If I were you I’d get to work during these last few minutes.” She heard Mr. Choi suggest to the class, breaking her train of thought.

She turned around to take a look at her soon-to-be new partner.

Jungeun was in the same position she’d been since the last time Heejin had looked at her, indicating that the older girl was probably fast asleep and had no idea of what was going on.

Heejin had no clue of what she should do. The obvious answer would be walking to her new partner and ask if the girl wanted to work with her, because there was still a possibility that Jungeun wasn’t at all interested in participating in the science fair and she was fretting for no reason. But even this kind of rejection was enough to make Heejin sweat with anxiety.

She stayed in place for a couple of minutes, controlling her breathing before going to her desk where she packed all of her belongings inside her backpack since the class was already almost over anyway. Then she walked in a painfully slow pace to the back of the class where Jungeun was. She noticed that by now the older girl had probably heard the commotion happening around her and was apparently packing her stuff to leave as well.

Heejin came to a stop in front of the other girl’s desk and suddenly her mind went blank. She had no idea what she wanted or needed to say so she just stood there, looking at the other girl’s figure and fidgeting with the hem of her school’s blazer in the most awkward position.

As if sensing someone looking at her, Jungeunturned to look at the cheerleader and Heejin’s brain took that as her cue to try and force her mouth to say anything.

“H-hi.” She babbled, waiting for the girl’s response, but all Jungeun did was stare back with a blank expression “Okay, uh. So, M-Mr. Choi assigned us a project for the science fair and I–“

“What?”

“What?”

Jungeun’s surprised her by taking off a red AirPod of her right ear to listen to what the girl what saying.

Heejin wanted to kick herself for not noticing the girl wasn’t listening to her, so she decided to say it all again “Oh, okay. You weren’t liste–Okay. Uh, so, the science fair. Mr. Choi proposed we’d do a project for the science fair that’ll help us boost our grades–“

“We?”

Heejin was close from having a mild panic attack “Yeah, you and me. I-I mean it’s in pairs and he ended up pairing us together. You can look at the board if you want.”

Jungeun shook her head “Nah, I believe you.”

Heejin couldn’t help but smile at hearing her say that. _She trusts me?_ “Okay, uhhh... It’s not obligatory, though. You can say no if you don’t feel like participating and I’ll totally understand and do it by myself.”

She was torn between wanting Jungeun to accept and wanting Jungeun to turn it down. Of course she’d love an opportunity to spend time with her and finally try and become friends after all this time daydreaming exactly about that. But at the same time she was afraid of getting this opportunity only to throw it away by doing or saying something wrong and ending every chance they had at becoming friends.

_Or something more_, Heejin masochist mind reminded her.

The answer to her prayers came a few seconds later.

“Fuck it, I’ll do it. My grades could use a booster anyways.” Jungeun admitted, stooding up to be on the same eye level as the younger girl.

The bell must’ve rang, but Heejin couldn’t tell. Her attention was on the girl standing right in front of her. _The last time we were in this same position.... Stop thinking about it._

“Cool. That’s-that’s great!”

“Text me your address and I’ll come over this weekend so we can get started, if you want.” Jungeun suggested walking past her.

Heejin nodded eagerly “Right. Of course, yeah. I’ll text you.”

“Cool. See ya.” Jungeun gave her a small smile before putting her earphone back on and walking towards the door.

Heejin continued to stare at Jungeun’s retreating figure until she was far gone, only finding in her to move and do the same when the class got empty.

_I need to find Jiwoo._

* * *

“You’re so lucky you’re my best friend and I need you right now,” Heejin said over the protein smoothie she was sipping from “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m still mad at you for not telling me about your girlfriend.”

Heejin had spent the rest of the day on the edge of her seat with want to talk to her friend. She desperately needed their sacred girl time, so after the cheerleading practice they walked to the nearest cafe they could find, where both of them ordered their usual drinks and went on gossiping about their day.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Jiwoo whined “and I already said I‘m sorry, Heekkie. Don’t be mad at me!”

Heejin wanted to keep fighting her, because she was truly hurt that Jiwoo decided to keep a secret like that from her, of all people.

Last week when Jinsoul texted her about seeing Jiwoo and Sooyoung together at the mall she knew she needed to find out by herself, so she waited until Jiwoo texted her later that night, which she guessed was by the time her supposed date had ended, and she called her right away demanding the truth.

Jiwoo was taken back by the accusation, of course, but knew it was bound to happen since she had seen their blonde friend spying on her date earlier that day. So she ended up admitting without hesitation, because why the point in denying it now that’s in the open. And to be honest, Jiwoo had been dying to tell her best friend about the girl that’d swept her off her feet.

Jiwoo was staring back with her big brown eyes and a pount that only managed to make Heejin groan in response “Ugh, fine. You know you can get away with anything when you pount like that. It’s not fair, Jiwooming.”

Jiwoo expression changed from an inocent one to a wicked smile “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But now tell me what’s on your mind, Heekkie. What Jungeun did this time?”

“What makes you think it’s about Jungeun?” Heejin took a sip, avoiding her friend’s eyes. Her phone seemed far more interesting than Jiwoo accuracy.

“Everything’s been about Jungeun for the last week, brainy.” Jiwoo pointed out, taking a bite from her cheesecake.

“Shut up! That’s not true.”

“Heekkie!” Jiwoo said, with a knowing look in her face prompting her best friend to just tell her already, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Heejin rolled her eyes, giving in “Okay, fine. It’s about Jungeun. Mr. Choi paired us up for a the science fair project.”

“And that’s a good thing right?” Jiwoo couldn’t tell by the edginess in her friend’s voice, but she continued once Heejin nodded with a smile creeping on her face “I’m so happy for you, Heekkie! Now you have a reason to talk to her. You’re so lucky!”

“I know, right? First the party and now this. The universe is conspiring in my favour. I was ready to give up.” She admitted.

“I highly suggest you use this opportunity to try something about it now, before you stop being lucky.”

She’d do whatever in her power not to screw this up and actually try and at least become friends with Jungeun. Heejin was determined, she really was... _but what if_ “What if she thinks I’m boring?”

Jiwoo stopped playing with her fork to look at her friend “Heekkie, did you forget you two already talked before? You know she at least thinks you’re cool if you two partied together, not to mention that _other_ thing.”

“Yeah, but that’s different. We were drunk. I’m sure I’m nicer when I’m drunk. Maybe I should get a bit tipsy when I meet her...” Heejin trailed off, her mind trying to come up with solutions for her to take the pressure off.

“Day drinking? Heekkie, you're 16, stop saying nonsense. Also you’re the nicest person I know. Don’t worry so much, of course she’ll like you, really. You can trust me. When are you guys meeting?”

“She said she’d meet me this weekend at my house.”

Since the moment Jungeun casually invited herself to her house, Heejin’s mind started to run numerous scenarios of what would happen once the older girl got there.

Some scenarios were cool like they’d get along very well and Jungeun would be be tempted to persue some sort of friendship with her. Some were bad, like she’d say or do something ridiculous that would prompt the girl to despise her. She tried not to think too much about those.

But the ones that really kept her mind reeling over were the ones too far fetched from reality to actually happen, like Jungeun would somehow find a way to comment on the kiss they had and how she wanted to try that again...

“Okay, so you have time until then. Stop obsessing over this, it’s not gonna help.” Jiwoo’s voice brought her back to the conversation.

“I have like 2 days, but you’re right. I’m gonna stop thinking about it.” Heejin agreed, trying to shake off her thoughts.

They stayed on their phone for awhile, immersed in their online lives before Heejin blurted out an idea that crossed her mind “Wanna come over tonight so you can help me choose what I’m gonna wear Saturday?”

Jiwoo rolled her eyes at her friend stubbornness “That’s not not thinking about it, Heekkie. And I can’t today, I have a date with Sooyoung-ah later on.”

“Again? You guys’ been seeing each other everyday!” Heejin crossed her arms, upset. All that she didn’t need right now was to lose her best friend to some random girl.

Jiwoo pounted “Be happy for me, Heekkie! I finally found someone that I like that also likes me. You know I’ve been wanting a girlfriend for the longest time.”

Heejin immediately felt bed for coming as unsupportive, because of course she was happy for her best friend’s happiness “I _am_ happy for you, Jiwooming. I’m sorry if I made it sound like I’m not.”

Heejin reached out to hold her best friend hands, trying to show her support through the gesture.

Jiwoo squeezed her hand back “No, I’m sorry. I want to be there for you, you know that, but I don’t think I can cancel on Sooyoung-ah today... But what about a sleepover friday, after Soojin’s party so I can help you pick something before your date?” She suggested instead.

“I wish it was a date.... But okay. Friday sounds good.” Heejin agreed before finishing her drink “So are you introducing me to your girlfriend at the party?”

Jiwoo took the last bite to her cheesecake “She’s not my girlfriend. Not yet at least. And you already know her.”

“Yeah, but not as your gir–significant other.” Heejin pointed out.

“Once she asks me to be her girlfriend I’ll introduce you, I promise.” Jiwoo smiled.

Heejin frowned “Why does it need to be her the one asking you? Why can’t you ask her to be your girlfriend yourself?”

Jiwoo’s face fell, her insecurities starting to show “Because, Heekkie. What if she says no? I don’twant to be rejected like that. Besides, I’ve always dreamed about being asked to be someone’s girlfriend and since this can be my first time dating, I want it to be like that.”

“She’d be stupid not to say yes, Jiwoo. You’re the most lovable person I know, she’s lucky she found you. But if you want her to ask, I’m sure she’ll do it at some point.” Heejin smiled at her reassuringly

“You really think so?” Jiwoo asked hopefully.

“I know so, Jiwooming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo, i really liked this chapter hehe i hope y’all liked it too + my take on heekkie’s pov... it’s not gonna be regular, but i’ll try to work on more heejin’s povs in the future
> 
> cc: @xheelip


	7. vii.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> updates were made on this chapter on september 25th, 2020

“So, there’s a party at Soojin’s house tomorrow. She said I could invite anyone I wanted, anyone wanna tag?” Sooyoung said, looking expectantly to her girl friends.

Jungeun and Hyunjin exchanged a doubtful look. Sooyoung wasn’t even sure Hyejoo heard what she said and Haseul was the only one of the bunch that seemed somewhat excited about the news.

“Vivi and I are definitely going.” She confirmed with a grin.

“For someone that tries to be a good example, you go to a lot of parties, Seul unnie.” Hyunjin observed between bites to her sandwitch.

Haseul liked to portray the classical girl next door façade. Being part of the school’s council andbeing remarked as one of the brightest students of the school and all of that good girl bullshit, when her close friends knew she could go the other way more than she’d ever admit.

“I go where my girl takes me. Whatever I do after that is beyond my control.” Haseul conceded to her friends amusement.

They knew the true Haseul.

“Jungie?” Sooyoung turned to the younger girl who was busy going through the settings on the camera in her hand.

Jungeun snorted “Yeah, a hard pass. I’m never attending a cheerleading party ever again. Nothing good comes from it and I don’t want to repeat whatever stupid shit I did last time.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes while Hyunjin and Haseul shared a look.

“Stop being dramatic. You got drunk and you threw up, no biggie.”

Jungeun stared at Sooyoung incredulously. If a look could kill, the dealer would be most certainly dead right now.

“Yeah, no biggie if I’m stuck in a project with the girl I threw up on. No biggie at all.” Jungeun said sarcastically.

“You’re working with Heelin?” Hyunjin asked out of nowhere, intervening in the awkward situation.

“Hee_jin_, and how do you know who she is?” Jungeun turned to look at her, momentarily suprised to know her friend knew Heejin.

“Aeong.” Hyunjin answered with a mouthful of her food.

Jungeun merely rolled her eyes because she knew she wouldn’t get anything from her friend when she enters her aeong mood. Not even worth the try.

“Hyun?” Sooyoung took that as her opportunity to ask.

“Yeah, that’s a no from me too. I don’t like my sister’s friends.”

“Hye?”

“I rather stay home and play my games, too.” Hyejoo answered, not botheting to look from the game on her phone.

“All you do is play games all day, that can’t be healthy. Start living a little, kid.” Haseul complained, giving the youngest the brightest smile she could manage as a form of convincing her, but Hyejoo was too immersed on the game to see it.

“Yeah, ‘cause going to a place full of drunk teenagers doing all sort of things is way healthier.” Hyejoo snorted sarcastically.

“Don’t listen to her, last time she said that to me I forgot everything that happened afterwards.” Jungeun complained, taking a bite from an apple Sooyoung had offered her.

“Yeah, I think mini-me is too young to go to these parties anyway.” Sooyoung said, snatching the apple back from Jungeun’s hands with grin, only to have Jungeun steal the apple back and hold it out of her reach.

“Look how’s talking. You took me to my first party when I was way younger than Hyejoo.” She remembered the older girl, after chewing.

“I don’t remember forcing you to anything, if you decided to go that was all on you, bro.”

“That’s why I’m not doing it again. Anyway, let’s do something at my house, yeah? I don’t think my sister will be there this weekend, so all clear.” Jungeun suggested, turning to look at the two younger girls.

If neither of them were going to that party, the least they could do was gather so they could also have so fun of their own. _Who said the only way to have a good time was through a party?_

“Sure, just know upfront I’m taking my Playstation.”

“Weirdo.”

“You are.”

“Aeong!”

* * *

For the second time on the same month, Jungeun found herself on the same awkward position of standing in front of an unknown address she had on her phone, in one of the poshest neighbours in Seoul. She decided over the ride there that she didn’t feel like staying sober, so on the walk from the bus stop and said address she indulged herself with a little _treat_. Enough to make her anxiety decrease and the afternoon more pleasant.

She was glad she did it, because just standing there not knowing what waited for her on the other side of the door was making her feel the weird effects of dejavu, so strong that it made her dizzy to the point she had to hold onto the nearest wall to keep steady, before she pressed the button on the metalic modern intercom and waited.

A few moments later, a voice was heard “Who is it?”

“It’s Kim Jungeun,” she waited, but nothing happened, so she continued “I’m Heejin’s classmate-“

The voice cut her“Come in.”

At the same moment the wooden door at her left opened and she took that as her cue to start moving. She hold onto the straps of her backpack to reassure herself and stepped in.

Jungeun closed the door behind her and climbed the few steps that lead to a gigantic frontyard. She hadn’t seen that much green in a residence ever since she left her hometown. The contrast with the concrete jungle that was Seoul was striking. _Fuck, she’s richie rich..._

She walked the remaining length until she reached the house’s main door, where a middle aged woman was waiting for her on the doorstep.

“Hello, ma’am.” She managed to say even though her mouth was too dry to say much else.

“I work for the Jeon family, follow me, please.” The woman greeted her “This way.”

She followed the woman inside the house. Or more likely, _the mansion_.

“You can wait here, I’ll call Miss Heejin over.”

Jungeun was mesmerised with the enormous residence and barely registered what the woman said “Thanks.”

She didn’t move, but that didn’t stop her eyes from roaming around the place.

It had gigantic ceiling to floor windows that allowed people to have a look on the external part of the house. No dirty on the floor, no apparent dust on the furniture and the whole place was decorated in what she figured must be a minimalist asthetic, varying from the burnt concrete-ish tons with wooden details. _Shit rich people’s into nowdays_, she snorted to herself. There were contemporaneous paintings and sculptures in strategic places, while other wall’s were adorned with a small portion of family photos. She walked closer to the wall so she could get a better look at it.

From what she observed, she could tell that family consisted of 5 people. The parents and three children, two boys and Heejin. She recognised one of the boy’s faces as a former senior at her school. _Why are they all pretty?_

The more she looked, the more she felt her eyes drawn to the pictures of Heejin. The girl was in most pictures and Jungeun noticed she was smiling in each one of it. _Must be easy being _this_ happy when you’re _this_ rich._

“Hi.”

Jungeun was took by surprise and turned in a hurry to look at the source of the voice.

“Hi, uh, we d-didn’t agree on a time, so I-I just showed up,” she began rambling once she noticed someone standing next to Heejin “I’m sorry, I should’ve checked before. We can reschedule if you're busy right now.”

She could feel her palms starting to ger sweaty and she wasn’t sure she could trust her sight. _Maybe getting high wasn’t the smartest choice..._

“Not at all.” Heejin said trying to dismiss her worries, before approaching where she was “This is Jiwoo.” She introduced, pointing to her friend.

Jiwoo gave Jungeun a bright smile “Hey.”

“Hi.”

Jungeun kept her eyes on the new girl. She had an odd feeling she knew her from somewhere. And that name...

“I’m leaving, but nice meeting you.”

“Likewise.” Jungeun replied, her eyes still trained on the retreating figure of the girl. _I know her. Where from, where from, whe- Fuuuck, that’s the girl from the mall, the one Soo’s dating..._

“See you later tonight, Heekkie.” Jiwoo said from the door.

_Yeah that’s definitely her._

“I’ll text you when I’m ready.” Heejin replied, before turning back to her guest “We can take this to my room.“

She motioned to the stairs and they both climbed it until they reached the upper level.

Just like the rest of the house, everything was impeccable and Jungeun felt the need to comment on it “Uh, your house’s very...nice.” _What the fuck I’m saying?_

Heejin that was walking ahead of her, turnedwith a smile “Thanks. Daddy’s kind of an afficionated for architecture, so we move a lot. This house was created by Namgoong, a friend of the family. He’s pretty famous. He used to live here himself, but when he decided to move to Paris, daddy decided we should have it to ourselves so here we are.” She explained.

“Cool.” Jungeun said impressed. It was more than what she wanted to know, but for some reason she liked hearing the excitement in the girl’s voice while explaining it.

Heejin opened the door once they reached the end of the hall and Jungeun was surprised by the size of the room. _This is probably bigger than my apartment._

She entered the room, taking all in. The room was white with details of pink spread all over it, different from the rest of the house. It still had the minimalist resemblance, but it also had character, something she guessed was all Heejin’s.

“So, have you thought about what we can do?” Heejin’s voice brought her back to reality. She was sitting in a table in the corner and Jungeun sat down on the chair next to hers.

“If I’m being honest I have no idea of what Mr. Choi’s proposing. I was spacing out during his explanation.” She admited sheepishly, after placing her backpack on the table.

Heejin smiled, already expecting that answer “Basically there’s the science fair coming up and Mr. Choi assigned pairs to work on projects. Like I said, it’s not mandatory but it’ll improve our grade... Luckily it’s up to us what it’ll be about. We have 3 weeks to complete it and he also wants a poster presentation and a report to hand him beforehand. Oh and I thought about also making typed handouts for the people at the fair.”

It took Jungeun more than a moment to register everything the girl had just said “Fuck, that’s a lot. Do you have any idea of what we can do?”

Heejin put on her eyeglasses before opening her notebook to look through her notes “Well, since it’s biology related we have plenty of subjects we can explore. Plants, human body, animals... Do you have a preference?”

Jungeun shook her head “Whatever you choose, I’m good with it.”

Heejin smiled at her response “Okay. I’m flattered with your trust in me, but if I’m being honest I’m not the greatest with decisions, so how about we both do some research, then we can talk about each option and then choose the one we like best together?” She suggested instead.

“Sounds good.” Jungeun agreed, taking both her books and notebook from her backpack.

She took a deep breath before opening her book. Biology wasn’t her favourite subject and she had no idea how she got by, being on an AP class of which she barely payed any attention.

The truth is that her grades on that particular class were hanging by a thread and when the other girl mentioned the opportunity of raising her grades if she participated on that goddamn science fair she knew she had to do it. But now she was starting to regret it.

By what Heejin explained, they had a lot of things to do and so little time. She hadn’t thought about her availability to do it all, since most days than not she was occupied with work and on thelittle free time she had, the last thing she wanted was to worry about something related to school.

But she had agreed to work with the girl, even when Heejin offered to do it by herself. And Jungeun was nothing but a woman that stayed true to her word. So she made a mental note to try and do her best to deliver what was asked of her.

For more than an hour, they sat in relative silence, each girl immersed in their own reading. The only noises echoing through the bedroom was the flipping of paper and the occasional buzz from their phones.

On the tenth buzz or so, Jungeun was already feeling boredom take the best of her, along with her attention that was elsewhere but her task, since she kept trying to read the same sentence over and over again without success.

She decided to open her phone, only to be met with various messages from her friends making plans for later that night. _Stupid party._ She ignored their messages and went straight to Google, deciding to take a shortcut through their work and find something interesting enough for them to do.

She scrolled through different projects, most of them too easy, which wouldn’t be a good call when she was enrolled in an advanced class and the professor probably expected something better. She also suspected her partner wouldn’t be pleased with any of the options she found, either. For some reason she could see that the girl sitting next to her had the habit of being a perfeccionist, and doing something just for the sake of getting it done probably wasn’t like her.

She was ready to give up on her online search and go back to her books, when her eyes caught the sight of a familiar word on her screen. She stopped scrolling and started reading the project proposition.

She cleared her voice, trying to get her partner’s attention “Uh, do you have any restrictions? Like what we can and can’t say?”

Heejin stopped what she was doing to give Jungeun all of her attention “No, why? What did you find?”

“So, I was looking for ideas online and I came upon one that I think it’s interesting to try it out...I dunno.”

“Okay?” Heejin said after she realised the older girl wasn’t gonna say much more.

Jungeun looked at her phone, unable to keep eye contact “Uh, it’s about cigarettes and and how the smoke may affect plants growth and stuff...”

She missed the surprised look Heejin made.

“Oh. Alright, we can try that.”

“R-really?”

“Well, do you find it worth doing it?” Jungeun nodded “So I don’t see why not.”

Jungeun smiled, happy that she had convinced the girl so easily “Cool. Thanks.”

“No need to thank me. This project is as much yours as it is mine and I think it’ll be interesting to test it out. I don’t think anyone will do something related. So, how does it work? What do we need?”

Jungeun sent her the link through message so Heejin could also read it.

The project wasn’t difficult, but it was a different approach from what they expected the rest of their class to do.

“Okay. I’ll run it over with Mr. Choi next class just to be sure, then we can get started.” She said after they read all of what they’d need to do “I can purchase whatever we may need and then you can come over to help me set it up and analyse it on the following weeks.” Heejin said, after scribbling down on her notebook everything they’d need.

“Yeah, sure. But you don’t need to pay for all of it, just make a list of all we need then we can split in two.” Jungeun said. For some reason the idea of letting the younger girl pay for everything unsettled her.

“Don’t worry about it, Jungeun. I’ll be happy to.” Heejin smiled, trying to lessen her worries.

“And I’ll be happy if you agree to let me pay for half of it too. Or didn’t you say this project was as much mine as it it yours?” She reminded her.

“Touché.” Heejin laughed “If it’ll make you feel better I’ll buy all of it at once because it’s easier this way, then later we can split the bill, okay?” She suggested.

Jungeun smiled “Thanks.”

“No worries.” Heejin smiled back.

For a few seconds they just stared at each other, neither knowing what to do.

“So, I guess we’re done for today, right?” Jungeun asked awkwardly.

Heejin broke the eye contact “We are, yeah... Are you hungry? I can ask Moongwang to make us something to eat.” She offered, not wanting to cut this meeting short.

“Nah, I’m alright.”

Jungeun let her eyes roam through the girl’s room just to lay on a cage, not far from where they were, which appeared to be guarding three little hamsters on it.

“What are their names?” She asked, looking at the little animals inside their cage.

The younger girl gave her a skeptical look before signing “Don’t laugh, but it’s Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi.” She admitted, closing her eyes in embarrassment, afraid of the girl’s reaction.

Jungeun gave her a confused look “Why’d I laugh?”

“Well, it’s from Naruto. People usually think it’s lame that I like it so much and make fun of me.”

“It’s cool that you like something out of the ordinary, y’know. If it’s something that makes you happy, don’t give a fuck about what other people may say. They’re lame for making you feel bad for liking it.” Jungeun smiled at her.

Heejin smiled back. She stood up and walked to the cage. She took two hamsters and handed one to Jungeun, who welcomed it into the warmth of her hands. Instantly she started petting the small fluffy creature.

“That’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about me liking Naruto...thanks. Do you watch it?” She asked, not bothering to hide the excitement in her voice.

“Never seen it.” Jungeun admitted without taking her eyes from the rodoent in her hand “Who’s this little fella?”

“This one is Kakashi. He tried to eat the other two. And you’re joking right? That you’ve never seen it.”

Jungeun shook her head “Nope. Not even an episode.”

“Oh, it’s really good, but you shouldn’t take my opinion into account, I’m biased. You should give it a try, though.” She suggested.

“Cool, I’ll.”

“Lemme know if you liked it!”

Jungeun nodded.

“Uh, so, a-are you going to Soojin’s party later tonight?” Heejin asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“Nah.” Jungeun said, grabbing her phone from inside her jacket’s pocket with the hand that wasn’t holding Kakashi.

“Oh, why not?” Heejin tried her best to hide her disappointment.

“Parties are not my thing and after the last one... I don’t think I’ll be going to one that soon.” The older admitted. Even though weeks had passed since that night, she still felt uneasy about the whole situation. The idea and feeling that she had fucked up wouldn’t leave her mind.

“You said that before.”

Jungeun that was busy taking selfies with Kakashi, eyed the girl in front of her in curiosity “What? When?”

“At Chae’s party. You said that parties are not your thing, then I asked you what it was and you said you like smoking pot.” Heejin air quoted.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” She felt like she had just been caught lying.

“Why are you apologising? Like you said, if it makes you happy, then don’t give a fuck about what people may say, right? And for what it’s worth I didn’t judge you then nor am I judging you now.” The younger gave her a cheeky smile to prove her point.

Jungeun felt compelled to smile back “Thanks, people usually aren’t that welcoming with my smoking habits.” She admitted, before stopping to think if she should bring up what she wanted to say to the younger girl, ever since she found out they shared the same class. She made up her mind in seconds, so she continued “Since we’re talking about the party... I’m sorry for throwing up at you, I know I’ve already apologised, but it was through text and I dunno, it just sounds more sincere face-to-face.”

Heejin was surprised to hear her talk about the party “You didn’t throw up in me, just really close and it wasn’t even close enough to get on me, so all good. Don’t worry about it.” She smiled reassuringly.

Jungeun smiled back, somewhat relieved with the girl’s reassurance “Cool, that’s good... But anyways, sorry if I bothered you any other way too. I don’t remember much, so I’m not confident that I behaved in a good way.”

“You really don’t remember?”

She shook her head “Hardly anything... And if I’m being honest I barely even remember meeting you. I know you helped me find your friend and that we talked for a bit when Seulie forced me to stay, but nothing after that. I blame the alcohol.”

“Uh, we–uh yeah, that’s, that’s a bummer.” Heejin said, masking the pain she felt hearing that the girl barely remembered her.

“Yeah.”

Jungeun phone buzzed and she unlocked it to a find 3 new notifications from her friends’ group chat.

She handed the hamster back to Heejin.

“I gotta go, I agreed to meet my friends in a hour and I still need to take the bus.” She excused, already getting up and packing her belongs back to her backpack.

“Yeah, sure.” Heejin put the two hamsters back in its cage before following Jungeun, who was waiting for her at the door.

They walked in silence back to the ground floor door.

“So, you wanna meet after school Monday?” Heejin asked, once they reached the front door.

“Monday I can’t, I have work. Tuesday too, can we try Wednesday?”

Heejin nodded “Wednesday, sure. We can meet after class by the gates if you want, then we can come back here.” She suggested.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll–“ She was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.

It was Heejin’s.

“Sorry.” Heejin excused, turning her cellphone off.

“Not at all, you get that. I can see myself out.” Jungeun smiled at her awkwardly, not knowing what to do “Uh, bye, Heejin.”

“Bye!”

* * *

“Soojin is so pretty. I can’t believe I lost my chance and now she’s dating.” Jinsoul complained before taking a generous sip from her drink. Her eyes were glued to said girl that was across the room making out with someone that wasn’t her.

Heejin rolled her eyes. They had arrived at the party not even an hour ago and all she did so far was listen to Jinsoul complain. Not that she was listening to it half the time, her mind was too preoccupied in replaying Jungeun’s visit to her house a few hours before and how good everything went.

“Lost your chance on what? Everyone knows you two had a thing last year. And you also hooked up with her now girlfriend not even a month ago. There’s anyone you haven’t made out with?”

The blonde feigned offence.

“Lots of people! You for instance.” She said, getting closer to the younger girl with a suggestive look.

Heejin pushed her lightly on the chest “And it’s going to continue that way, thank you.”

“Your loss, baby.” Jinsoul shrugged “Anyway, now I gotta find someone else to thirst over.”

“Jesus, Jinsoul. Hanging out with your friends isn’t enough?”

Jinsoul grimaced “It is...usually. But it’s been a while since I last kissed someone y’know and a girl has needs. I _really_ want a girlfriend.” She admitted with a pount that only made Heejin smile at how cute it was “Even Chae’s dating now and I’m all by myself.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that. Something smells fishy about her relationship...” Heejin commented, making a face.

They had arrived at the same time as Chaewon and her allegedly boyfriend and of course a proper presentation had being made between them, but Heejin wasn’t at all convinced about their relationship. The guy seemed too far off to what she imagined her friend with.

He was okay, but just okay wasn’t Chae’s style, she knew that for a fact. The blonde girl was famous for always thriving after something that’d help with her image, but just being good looking wouldn’t do much to her popularity. Or so Heejin thought. _He’s probably rich or something..._

“I know, right? All of the sudden she found a boyfriend that we’ve never heard about? Aren’t we her friends?”

Both of them turned to watch their blonde leader, who was in the corner of the room dancing with her new boyfriend. They seemed to be having a good time and getting along well enough, but Heejin was still suspicious about all of it.

“Hey guys.” Haseul greeted from behind, surprising both of them. Her pink-haired girlfriend standing next to her.

Jinsoul turned to look at her old friend “Seul, do you know if Jungeun’s single?”

“What?” Heejin panted, her mouth hanging open with shock. _What the f-_

“Yeah, she is. Why?” Haseul answered slowly, being caught by surprise with the sudden question.

“No reason.” Jinsoul said casually from behind her cup, a smile threatening to appear on her face.

_First they start hanging out and now this... She can’t possibly be crushing on her too, that’s the last thing I need..._

“Okay. But just so you know she’s still hung up on her ex, so I don’t think you’d get much further with her.” Haseul warned and the blonde’s smile vanished from her face.

“Damnit. I’d ask about Sooyoung but she’s taken...”

Haseul narrowed her eyes in confusion “What?”

“Why is it so hard to find a cool girl single or not suffering about her ex?” Jinsoul continued, ignoring everyone around her.

“That’s the greatest mystery. Good thing I have my babe.” Vivi said while hugging her girlfriend from behind. Her chin resting on the crock of the girl’s shoulder.

Jinsoul made a nauseous face at their PDA “Well, I’m gonna get my ass drunk. Maybe I’ll find someone to kiss in the same state as me. See y’all beautiful ladies later.” She annouced before vanishing to the crowd dancing in the middle of the living room.

Heejin stayed on the same spot lost on her thoughts. Her mind reeling on what Haseul had just said.

She did know about Jungeun’s ex after the last party and everything that _happened_ to avoid seeing her, but she had no idea the reason behind that was because Jungeun’s still in love with her. In her mind that 411 made everything so much harder.

She felt like all the progress they made that afternoon was lost and they were back in square one._Maybe I should give up on tha–_

“Here’s your drink.” Jiwoo said, breaking Heejin’s out of her trance.

Heejin reached out to take the drink from her friend’s hands, not wasting a moment and drowning half of her beverage. She was not staying sober after that new information.

“Thanks Jiwooming.” She thanked after cleaning her lips with the back of her hand.

“Seulie!” They heard someone shout from across the room, trying to make their voice be heard despite the loud volume of the music blasting around them.

“Fuck, I hate this city’s traffic.” Said a girl, that Heejin immediately recognised as the girl Jiwoo’s dating. Sooyoung.

She side-eyed her friend standing next to her. Jiwoo was staring at the older girl with dreamy eyes and it made Heejin smile. It made her happy seeing her friend in that way when she remembered how many times the girl confided in her how much she wanted a girlfriend.

“Who you’re dating?” She heard Haseul asking and that was enough to make her pay attention to their talk.

“What?” Sooyoung asked alarmed and Heejin noticed how she was forcing herself not to look at Jiwoo’s direction.

Next to her she could feel her friend’s body getting rigid.

“Who you’re dating?” Haseul repeated the question and that was the final blow to scare her friend away.

“Bye!” Jiwoo said in a high pitched voice, already turning to make her escape.

Heejin was about to go after her, but decided she wanted to see Sooyoung’s reaction to the question and what she’d answer. The opportunity to study the girl was too good for her to let it pass.

“What are you talking about? I’m not dating anyone, who said that?” Sooyoung continued asking, clearly determinated to turn the question around. _Interesting._

“No one... But I’m gonna find out.” Haseul answered with confidence, her fingers pointing to the older girl’s chest in an accusatory way.

“Are you drunk already? Vivi what did you do to her?” Sooyoung joked looking at the older girl.

“Not one bit. Which reminds me, we need to get something to drink. Come babe.” Haseul took her girlfriend’s hand “I’ll talk to you later, miss ‘I’m hiding something’.” She said before going straight to the kitchen, dragging Vivi with her.

Heejin was holding herself from laughing at the whole situation. But she had to give to Sooyoung. If she didn’t know the truth herself, she would’ve trusted the older girl’s word. Not even a minute she flinched under the interrogation her friend imposed her.

“What was that about?” Sooyoung asked, turning to look at her.

“Jinsoul’s let it slip that you’re dating. But she didn’t say _who_ you’re dating.” Heejin explained calmly after taking a sip from her drink.

“What?” Sooyoung’s eyes doubled its sizes, the only sign so far that gave her away.

“Jindori’s seen you and Jiwooming together and she told me. Don’t worry, I’m not going to rat on you. It’s not my secret to tell.” Heejin said honestly. There was no point in pretending she didn’t know the truth “Just try and keep distance for tonight if you don’t want anyone noticing.”

“Fuck.” The older girl growled “Anyone else knows?”

Heejin shook her head “Not that I know of.”

“Well, that’s better.”

Heejin kept studying the girl, pondering if she should say what she wanted to say. In the end she decided it was best if she did.

“Look, I think it’s too early for me to give you the best friend talk and all of that, but I’ll give you the short version for now: do anything to hurt Jiwooming and I’ll break your car.” She said, trying to force a stern look on her face on the hopes of scaring Sooyoung.

The older girl stared blankly back at her, before bursting into laughter.

“Fuck! Okay, I respect that.”

Heejin cracked a smile back. _Mm maybe she’s not that bad..._

“I’m back!” They heard Jiwoo’s excited voice from behind them. The girl’s eyes darting from both faces expectantly, probably wondering what they were talking about.

“Well I’m gonna leave you two lovebirds to it. Jiwoo, I’ll see you later.” Heejin excused herself, before turning to go look for something else for her to do.

She wasn’t in a party mood and being ditched by her best friend who had dragged her there wasn’t helping so she decided to drown her sorrows on alcohol.

She went to the kitchen to refill her cup. There weren’t a lot of people there, for which she was grateful. She poured something she hoped wasn’t too strong, not really wanting to get drunk, but not willing to stay sober either.

She was putting the gin bottle back in the counter when she saw her friend Yerim running in tears. Her first instinct was to follow the girl to make sure she was okay. She grabbed her cup and followed the girl’s direction.

She knocked on the bathroom’s door the younger girl had just entered.

“Go away, Chae.” A muffled voice said from behind the door.

“It’s Heekkie. Open the door, Yerimmie.” She said, trying to turn the knob without success.

“I want to be alone.”

“C’mon, open it up.” She kept knocking to no response.

She stayed close to the door for a minute or two,hoping the girl’d change her mind before walking away. _She doesn’t want company, so be it..._

She walked around the house, exploring. That was her first time at Soojin’s house, since the girl was a grade above her and they didn’t really talk or had anything in common besides cheerleading.

Heejin wasn’t sure of what to do. Normally she’d stick by Jiwoo’s side and of lately events, Jinsoul’s. But Jiwoo was god knows where with Sooyoung and she’d just seen Jinsoul locking lips with someone she couldn’t recognised at the corner of the living room. _Well, someone’s having fun._

She stared her friend’s intimate moment with a longing look. She wanted that too. She wanted to have someone to kiss, but making out with some random person wasn’t Heejin’s style, and to top all of that there wasn’t anyone she wanted to be doing that other than Jungeun.

Their afternoon had gone way better than expected. They had finally settled for a theme to their project, but that was the least of Heejin’s worries.

Jungeun seemed to like her. Well, like her as a friend at least. The older girl was way friendlier than Heejin expected her to be. Not as cheerful as she had been at the party, of course, that was probably all the alcohol doing, but definitely not the moody teenager Jungeun tries to act like at school.

She was better than Heejin’s imagination, she was...she’s-_she’s here._

_She’s here?_

_SHE’S HERE!_

There, at the other side of the room, behind what seemed like thousand of people’s was Jungeun standing by the door. To say that Heejin was surprised was an understatement.

_Didn’t she say she wasn’t coming?_

Heejin drowned the rest of her gin and tonica in one go and walked to meet the girl, only to stop mid-way.

If Jungeun was there, Heejin wasn’t going to miss on her opportunity to spend time with her, of course, but she couldn’t be this forthcoming... _It’s going to look like I’m stalking her... think, Heejin, think..._

She took a look at Jungeun and around herself before deciding to stay exactly where she was. If she was correct, she was standing in a perfect spot where Jungeun would probably pass by therefore causing them to _casually_ bump into each other. She just turned her body slightly to the other direction so it seemed she wasn’t paying attention and waited.

Not even a minute later her plan succeeded... kind of. Someone did bump into her, but it wasn’t Jungeun.

Heejin turned to see a tall-ish girl pushing her way out of the crowd, not bothering to even look at her nor apologise for the bump.

“Hey.”

She recognised that voice... she’d payed close attention to it earlier that day. _That’s-_

“Jungeun!” She hoped she hadn’t screamed that, like it sounded in her head. “I-I thought you-u weren’t coming. You said-I mean, hi!”

Jungeun looked at her amused with the stuttering. Heejin noticed her eyes were smaller with a red-ish tint to it, which probably meant _she’s high._

“I wasn’t, but my friend’s sister,” she looked around her trying to find Hyunjin “called for her to come pick her so I came with her.”

_She’s not staying..._ Heejin was a little sad upon hearing that, but seeing her at all was better than not. It did wonders to brighten her mood.

“Uh, yeah... I think I lost my friend, I dunno where she went.”

“Who’s she?”

“Hyunjin.”

“Yerim’s sister?” Jungeun nodded “Oh, uhm,that’s concerning... I saw Yerim lock herself up on a toilet. Come, I’ll show you.”

Out of habit of doing it with Jiwoo, she grabbed Jungeun’s hand to lead her from the crowd, just to drop it a second later. Her mind screaming for her to keep the touch to a minimum.

“So, I was thinking about our project and I think Mr. Choi won’t be too happy about it. Maybe we should change it.” Jungeun commented after awhile, her voice rising to be heard over the music.

Heejin narrowed her eyes “What? Nonesense. I mean, yeah he may not like it, but if he doesn’t, well... too bad for him, I guess. Also there’s no way he’s going to reject the idea anyway, there’s nothing wrong with what we chose and I’m sure we’re gonna win that fair, so don’t worry about it.... Do you know what happened with Yerim?”

Jungeun shook her head “Nope, I was going to ask you the same thing. We were hanging at my house when she just texted Hyun asking her to come pick her ASAP.”

They approached the toiled where Heejin last seen Yerim, just to find the door opening and the girl getting out with her sister closer to her.

“Where’s that girl?” They heard Hyunjin’s angry voice.

“Stop, you’re not gonna fight her, let’s just go home.” Yerim said, holding her sister to stay put.

Hyunjin tried to get out of Yerim’s embrace “I’m not gonna let her treat you like that, Yerimmie. You’re not her fucking doll for her to play whenever she wants and throw away after she’s done.”

Yerim turned to face Jungeun’s with a pleading look on her face, hoping she’d help her control her sister.

“Dude, let’s just go. It’s not worthy whatever you wanna do.”

Hyunjin tried to walk past her, but Jungeun hold her arm “Lemme go, Jungeun. I’m not gonna let that fake-blonde-Regina-George-turned-wrong-bitch treat my sister like that.”

“Nor you should, but not tonight, dude. Think about your sister, she doesn’t want to be here so let’s just go.”

“Please.” Yerim pleaded in the verge of tears, which was enough to make Hyunjin snap out of her angry trance.

She got out of Jungeun’s soft grip to hug hersister “We’re going, we’re going. I’m sorry Yerimmie.”

They turned to go to the door’s direction, Jungeun and Heejin following right after.

“Yerim.” They heard Chaewon call.

The blonde had been watching the whole situation from across the room and was now walking in their direction.

Heejin watched as at the same time Hyunjin turned, her body posture screaming she was ready to fight her, but Jungeun was faster to intervene before she did anything.

“Just ignore her.” Jungeun said, pushing her friend to continue walking “Yerim’s wants to leave, so we’re leaving. Come.”

After some resistance, Hyunjin turned back and grabbed Yerim hands, rushing their pace towards the door, leaving Jungeun behind.

“You get them outta here. I’ll talk to Chae.” Heejin offered with a smile. No way she’d let Jungeun talk to Chaewon. God only knows what the blonde leader would tell her, especially if she noticed that the older one is high...

“You sure? Thanks.” Jungeun smiled back “I see you Monday?”

_Aw, she wants to see me... Shut up, stop, Heejin. It’s only to talk about the project, nothing else. Stop projecting._ “Of course.”

Heejin watched as Jungeun struggled to cut trough the group of people standing in her way, before turning back just in time to find the blonde cheerleader standing in front of her.

“Where are they going?” Chaewon slurred coldly. Heejin could smell the alcohol in her voice, it wasn’t always that the girl got drunk, but that did happen more often than not so she wasn’t surprised.

“They’re leaving. What did you do to Yerim? Aren’t her your best friend?”

“Excuse me?” The blonde inquired ofended, her hands coming to her chest in a dramatic manner, Heejin didn’t even bothering to hide her eye roll. _Oh god..._

“You clearly did something to her or she wouldn’t have locked herself in the middle of the party and screamed that she didn’t want to talk to you when I knocked at the door and she thought it was you.”

“Not that is any of your business, but I haven’t done anything to her. She’s just too senstive... Yer-She doesn’t know understand what enough means and she starts crying, but that’s none of your business. And I’d expect a little more of respect from you Heekkie, I’m still your captain and I remember I suggested you not to talk to that girl again?” Chaewon pointed with her head towards the door where Jungeun’d left just mere minutes ago.

_Not this again_ “Do you even hear yourself? You’re my captain when we’re in our uniforms, out of it I don’t own you shit. I’m older than you!“

“What that has to do with anything? It’s only by a month and–“

“Whatever, Chae. An advice? Don’t make Yerim feel like that again. That girl idolises you. You guys seem like really good friends, don’t ruin that by being a bitch to her too.”

And with that Heejin left, leaving a shocked Chaewon behind. In her mind the dramatic exit was needed to give what she just said a little more of impact. That’s how you speak Chaewon’s language; play her game.

_Wait. Did I just called her a bitch to her face?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, heejin’s mansion is the same as the one in parasite (2019) dir. bong joon-ho lmao great film, go check it out if you haven’t yet ;)
> 
> twt/cc: xheelip


	8. viii.

Jungeun had the habit of taking both of her cameras–a digital and an analog–everywhere she went. It was always on her backpack, packed with batteries and film rolls always at her disposal in case she decided the moment she was living was worth remembering.

Not that remembering something was the only criteria she used when she decided she wanted to take a photo, no. Jungeun also liked to snap some pictures of everything she deemed beautiful.

And in front of her there was something that at the time she didn’t know it was worth recording into history, but beautiful nonetheless.

A girl sitting on the highest level of the benches, with her back pressed against the fence behind, working her pen on something Jungeun had no idea what it was. _Maybe a notebook? A diary?_ She wasn’t sure, but the sun was descending on her figure in the best way possible, making her shine like she was immaculate and Jungeun to briefly question if it was a mirage. _But I’m not high..._

Without wasting another minute, Jungeun set her film camera on the proper settings before snapping a quick shot of what she was seeing. Part of her wanted to see the results right away, to see if she managed to capture exactly what her eyes were seeing since photos weren’t always loyal to reality, but she had chosen to take it in film for a reason. There was something about the waiting when it came to analog photography that made it the more exciting.

Still holding her camera, she walked to where she knew she’d get a better look to the girl’s face,curious to know the identity of her muse that was a mistery until that very moment.

It took her a minute of squinting her eyes against the harsh sun to get a good look before she recognised that face. _Oh. It’s Heejin._

“Hey.” Jungeun said a little louder than normal, trying to get the girl’s attention from where she was sitting.

Heejin lifted her eyes from her task to see who was calling for her. The moment her eyes caught sight of the older girl standing at the first level of the benches she couldn’t hold back a smile.

“Jungeun, hi.” She replied, packing away her things inside her backpack and placing it on her other side, so Jungeun could have a place to sit.

“What are you doing here? I wouldn’t pick this as a place you usually hang.” Jungeun commented climbing the side steps between the benches, getting closer to where the younger girl was.

“I don’t, it’s just for today. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to hang with my friends.” Heejin confessed shyly once the girl sat next to her.

“Oh.” Jungeun’s mind picked up straight away that something must’ve happened after the last time she saw her at the party. _What happened after I left?_ “What happened? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

Heejin shook her head “Of course not! I just... kinda called Chae a bitch and said a bunch of other _not so nice_ stuff about her... Knowing her short temper she might straight up slap me if she sees me. I’m waiting until cheer practice to face her.”

_Fuck._ “Fuck. Why did you do that?”

Jungeun was impressed to say the least. She didn’t thought anyone had the courage to stand up to a person like Chaewon, no one other than Hyunjin that it, but that was just because Hyunjin wasn’t afraid of defending anyone she cared about, not matter who she was going against with.

_But calling her a bitch? When they’re that close? Maybe she’s just sick of her... I know I’d be._

“She’s probably the reason why Yerim called her sister that night to pick her up, so...” Heejin continued as if reading her mind. _Oh yeah, right, the Yerim incident. Still don’t know what’s that all about..._

“Shit. That’s badass.” Jungeun confessed “Well, she had it coming I guess.”

Heejin nodded before poiting at the camera hangin from Jungeun’s neck “Whatcha doing?” She said trying to change the subject.

The older girl grabbed the camera by instinct and inspected it, admiring what she considered as one of her most precious possessions.

“Mm, just snapping some pics. It’s kinda my hobby.”

She decided right there that she wouldn’t mention the photo she just took of the younger before she had a look at it herself. She didn’t want to promise to show her somethig that she doesn’t even know if turned out good. So she made a menta note to let the girl know about it after she developed the film roll and inspected to see if she was satisfied with the results.

Heejin seemed impressed “Oh, I didn’t know. That’s cool. Do you post it online?”

Jungeun smiled at the girl interest. Nothing made her more excited than someone wanting to talk about one of her passions. That and weed, of course. _But weed is one of my passions... Fuck, I should’ve packed a joint today, maybe Hyunjin or Soo can hook me up–Focus, Jungeun!_

She cleared her throat before answering.

“Sometimes. I have a Flickr and an Instagram. I use Flickr more, even though it’s for ancient people, but it’s more professional than social media, y’know. I can show you some of my favourites photos if you want to.” Jungeun suggested, already grabbing her phone and unlocking it.

“Of course! I’d lov–Y-Yeah, su-sure.” Heejin stuttered, but luckily for her, Jungeun was too busy scrolling through her phone’s camera roll trying to find the perfect photo to show her that she missed Heejin’s awkward moment.

For some reason she really wanted to impress the girl next to her with what she believed was her best work. But her mind went blank and she couldn’t think of one that was good enough. _Which one, which one...There’s that one with Doye–Nope, not that one Jungeun. Don’t show her a picture of your ex._

“Heekkie!!!”

They heard a voice calling, distracting Jungeun from her task and alarming Heejin from her inner peace.

“There you are. I was looking everywhere for you. Why weren’t you answering any of my texts?”

Jungeun looked from phone to see who’s the girl talking to Heejin. _Damn, ain’t she the girl Sooyoung’s dating? What she’s–oh right, they’re friends. She was at her house._

“Oh- Hi. Sorry, am I interrupting something?” Jiwoo said a second later, after finally acknowledging Jungeun’s presence. Her eyes kept darting from each girls’ faces in front of her and a smile crept across her face. Suddenly the reason to why Heejin had vanished and wasn’t answering her texts earlier was very clear to her.

“_Jiwoo!!!_” Heejin reprimanded in a low voice, her face turning a light shade of pink.

“What???” The red head asked innocently, her smile only growing.

Jungeun tried her best not to stare at the exchange happening in front of her, but it was hard to miss on the weird glances the girls were giving each other before deciding that was her cue to get the hell away from there. _What’s going on?_

“I’ll talk to you later, Heekkie.” Jiwoo said, turning to leave.

“Nah, stay. I’m leaving.” Jungeun pocket her phone on her jacket and stood from the benches, grabbing her backpack and heading for the stairs, casually bumping into Jiwoo that had stopped midway, not knowing if she stayed or leave.

“You don’t have to go.” Heejin protested, still throwing annoyed glances at an apologetic Jiwoo, who kept mouthing ‘I’m sorry’ at her best friend.

“Yeah, I can talk to Heejin later, no problem.” Jiwoo insisted.

“It’s alright, my friends are waiting for me anyways,” Jungeun told them. Or better, herself, because for some reason she had forgotten she had agreed to meet them for lunch, as they usually did. _Heejin is distracting_, but a good type of distraction. “But I’ll see you in class.”

The younger cheerleader smiled at being reminded that they shared a class together “Show me the photos then!” She suggested and Jungeun nodded to her request before reaching the last step and heading towards where she knew she’d find her friends.

The last thing she heard before getting out of earshot was a loud “Jiwoo, what the fuck?” followed by a yelp.

_What the fuck was _that_? And to think I’ll have to get to know that weird girl once Sooyoung stops being a pussy and finally introduces her to the gang... Oh god._

She kept taking pictures along the way before finally reaching her friends.

They were all sitting at their usual stop, underneath a gigantic tree in the far south of the school grounds where not a lot of people hang. The perfect place for their little gang to stay, away from anyone who could want to disturb the bubble they had created.

The only thing unusual was the presence of a violet haired girl sitting between Hyunjin and Hyejoo, holding an equally violet Switch on her hand. Jungeun inspected her for a moment and noticed that her face didn’t show any of the sadness she’d seen in the previous weekend. _That’s good._

Jungeun made her presence known by taking a picture of her friends with the flash on, a display enough to bring everyone’s attention towards her.

“Hi Yerim.” She greeted, before taking a seat next to Sooyoung, at the end of the trunk.

“Hi Jungeun.” Yerim smiled before going back to her game, completely lost in her own reality.

“Where were you?” Sooyoung enquired between taking sips from her Diet Coke.

“Nowhere.” Jungeun shrugged, not really in the mood of disclosing her whereabouts “By the way, I just ran into your girlfriend.”

She made the motion of putting on her earphones when Sooyoung slapped her hand, sending the red AirPod straight to the floor.

“What the fuck, Soo?” Jungeun yelled, gaining a few startled looks from the rest of her friends. She reached out to take her earphone from the floor before placing it back inside her backpack, _no point in trying to use it._

In retribution Sooyoung just shook her head in a pleading way for Jungeun to shut up, which only made the younger more provocative. _This might be fun._

“What? You’re not even going to deny it?” Jungeun asked in a teasing way, but lowered her voice enough just so only Sooyoung would be able to hear what she was saying.

The older rolled her eyes “I know you’ve seen us.”

Jungeun brough her hands to her chest, feigning offence “And I thought I was an doing a pretty good job spying you.”

Sooyoung snorted “So that was a shitty effort if I’ve seen you the moment you stepped inside that movie theather.” She took the last sip from her beverage before kneading the can with her bare hands “Took you long enough to say something.”

“Just assumed that if you haven’t told me or anyone then it’s because you don’t want people to know.”

“Touché.”

Jungeun took a look around to make sure everyone else wasn’t paying attention on them before asking “So, are you two dating or what?”

Sooyoung gave her a thoughtful look, pondering if she wanted to be honest with her best friend “It’s nothing serious, we’re not officially dating. We’re getting to know each other, but I dunno... I’m still trying to figure out what I feel for her.”

The younger gave her a doubtful look. _Yeah, right._ “If you say so. That wasn’t what it looked like.”

“Well, you’re seeing things. How about you?” Sooyoung gave her a suggestive look.

_What?_ “What about me?” Jungeun asked confused.

“What were you doing hanging with Jinsoul? I didn’t even know you knew each other. Were you guys on a date?”

“Of course not. I met her at the party when she bought _your_ stuff from me. She texted inviting me for a hotbox and since I was in the mood for skipping class and I never refuse a free offer to get high, I accepted.” Jungeun explained “We were in the middle of the film when she spotted your girlfriend.” She added just to piss Sooyoung off.

As expected the older girl pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath, a clear sign that she was holding back from fighting her “Jiwoo’s.Not. My. Girlfriend.” _She’s so easy to annoy._

“Yet.”

Jungeun knew how Sooyoung rolled when it came to girls. She usually said it was nothing serious, just a casual hook up, but she _always_ dated the girl in the end.

It happened with Minji in freshman year, Mina in sophemore year and Jennie in junior year. _Once is chance, twice is coincidence and three times is a pattern._ Jungeun knew her friend was nothing but consistent in that aspect of her life.

Sooyoung reluctantly conceded “Maybe, but seriously now, _don’t_ tell anyone. Haseul’s already on it and I don’t want her knowing. I want to see if this is going to last before we start telling people.”

Jungeun gave her a reassuring smile “Your secret is safe with me, bro.”

They could joke all they wanted and even threaten to blackmail, but in the end they’d always have each other’s backs. For Jungeun there was nothing more sacred than loyalty and she was glad her friends had the same principles.

Sooyoung smiled back “Thanks, Jungie. Gotta say,” She checked to see if no one was looking at their direction before continuing “I’m still impressed you didn’t say anything earlier.”

“If I’m being honest I did thought about using it as levarege on you, but that would be an asshole thing on my part.” She admitted.

Sooyoung lightly pushed her off the trunk “You’re damn right it would. Need a ride for work today?” She offered.

“Ain’t you gonna see your girl?” Jungeun asked after regaining her balance.

“She’s not–No. She has cheer practice, she can’t miss anymore of it.”

“What’s up with you and Seulie losing it for a cheerleader, of all people?” The younger asked out of pure curiosity.

Their group wasn’t very keen of hanging with anyone slightly different from them and it baffled Junguen the fact that not only Haseul, but now also Sooyoung, both dated girls that weeks ago they were making fun of.

“What you mean? There’s nothing wrong with dating a cheerleader. I dated Jennie last year, remember?”

“I’m not saying there is. It’s just... I dunno, we just don’t mingle with that type of people. It’s weird, we’re the opposite of those girls. We make fun of them.”

Sooyoung shook her head “_You_ and Hyunjin make fun of them, _not me_, nor Seulie. And it’s not my fault they’re the hottest girls in school, after me, of course. Don’t complain until you’ve tried it.” She gave her a wicked smile followed by a wink.

Jungeun made a disgusting face “Hard pass, thank you.”

“On dating a cheerleader or dating at all?” Sooyoung inquired.

It’s been awhile since she wanted to bring this up with Jungeun, but the kid never gave her a chance, always changing the subject before she could have a chance to say anything.

Jungeun gave her a hard look, already knowing where her friend wanted to get “Soo, just... don’t, okay?”

She reached for her phone as a way to distract her from having that conversation. _Uh, what about the photos from earlier again?_

“Jungie-“ Sooyoung said after awhile of watching her friend scroll through her camera roll in search of something that she had no idea of what it was.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Jungeun said firmly, without taking her eyes from her task. Finding the perfect photo to show Heejin was more important than any bullshit she knew Sooyoung was ready to tell her.

The older girl waited another minute before continuing, not wanting to wait for another opportunity that might not come “Well, but you need to. You’ve not been yourself since that girl broken up with you. You need to move on. You splitting up was probably the best thing that happened to you. Now you’re free to do whatever you want without feeling guilty you’re disappointing her. That should be a reason to be happy.” She tried to argue.

Jungeun snorted “Who said I’m not?” _Fuck this._

Sooyoung put her hand on top of Jungeun’s phone, preventing her from keep doing whatever she was doing and forcing her to pay attention “I know you, Jungie. You’ve been shutting off little by little. You barely hang with us outside school anymore. All you do is go to work and stay at your house.”

“I thought I just heard you say that now I can do whatever the fuck I want. Well, I’m doing it. I like my work and I don’t mind staying alone at the comfort of my house where I can do nothing all day.” She said before pushing Sooyoung’s hand away and turning to the side so she wouldn’t be able to touch her phone again.

_The photo, the photo, the photo, the photo, the photo..._

Sooyoung took one look at Jungeun’s behaviour and it was enough to make her give up. There was no point in continuing the conversation when she knew the younger would just ignore everything she said “You know what? Whatever you say, Jungeun. I’m not gonna argue with you.”

“Smart choice, brainy.” Jungeun said amid a victorious dry laugh.

“What are you doing here?” They heard Hyunjin say out of nowhere with a angry voice, making them take a break from their litte feud to search the person who was in the receiving end of that.

Standing in front of their group was Chaewon, standing proud in her cheerleader fit, hands on her hips, the perfect image of the typical cheerleaders you see in Bring It On. _She’s really a cliche._

“Yerimmie, can we talk?” The icy cold cheerleader said, her eyes glued to the violet haired girl, not paying any attention to her sister or any of her friends.

“Get the fuck out!” Hyunjin said, standing up from where she was sitting to place herself in front of her little sister.

Chaewon took a step closer, not backing down from the challenge “I’m not talking to you, brainless. This is still school’s ground, I’m not going anywhere.” She took a look on everyone standing in front of her “If anyone needs to get out are _you people_, degrading the reputation of our school using this place for god knows what! I’ll report you.”

Hyunjin took a dangerous step closer only to get her body pushed back to where she was by her sister who had been silent since the blonde girl appeared.

Yerim kept her hold on her sister’s wrist tight, knowing if she let it loose, Hyunjin wouldn’t think twice before going straight for her best friend’s neck.

“You would’t do that, Chae. Don’t be mean to my sister.” Yerim pleaded with a soft voice, enough to disarm Chaewon and make her back down.

The blonde rolled her eyes in the most dramatic way, not bothering to hide her annoyance “Fine. I’m sorry, Hyunjin. Now can we please talk, Yerimmie? Please?” She tried in her most authoritarian voice, but it cracked at the end showing her true emotions.

“I don’t know, Chae.” Yerim said, indecisive.

Everyone else had stopped whatever they were doing to watch the drama happening in front of them. Haseul seemed like she was on the edge of her seat watching the last episode of her favourite drama, Sooyoung and Jungeun’s eyes kept darting between the blonde girl and their friend in case Hyunjin decided she wasn’t gonna be civil anymore. Even Hyejoo had put a hold on her game and watched anxiously her friends.

“Just talk, Yerimmie. Please.” Chaewon mimicked Yerim’s soft voice this time knowing it’d do the trick.

Hyunjin tried to get away from her sister’s grip, but the younger girl was stronger than she imagined “She doesn’t want to.”

“She can answer for herself.”

“Just talk?” Yerim asked, moving her head to stare at Chaewon.

“Just talk.” The blonde confirmed with a smile.

“Yerim, no!” Hyunjin pleaded, trying to make her stay. Nothing good would come from that conversation and she didn’t want to take care of a depressing Yerim ever again. That shit hurt too much for her to allow her sister to fall into Chaewon’s twisted game again.

Yerim turned to her sister, putting her hand in her shoulder in a reassuring way “I’ll be alright, Hyun. We’re gonna _just talk_ right where you can see me, don’t worry. She’s not stupid to do anything to me in front of people. She doesn’t want others to think she’s something she’s clearly not.” She said the last part in a louder tone so everyone, including Chaewon, would hear it.

Hyunjin had no option but let her sister talk to the other girl.

They all watched as Yerim packed her things inside her backpack and followed Chaewon to a more recluse spot in a nearby tree where Hyujin could supervise them and intervene if needed. A part of her whised Chaewon would say the wrong thing just so she had a legit reason to beat the girl up. Her hand had been aching to slap the girl ever since Yerim texted her that other night.

“Oh my god! I wonder what they’re talking about.” Haseul asked excitedly while grabbing her phone to take a picture of them.

“What are you doing?” Sooyoung who’d caught what her friend had just did, asked.

Haseul showed her phone, in the screen a conversation with Vivi was open and the photo she just took had just been sent “Texting my girl to see what’s the 411 on Miss Korea over there.”

“I know what is it.” Hyunjin said in a low voice, her eyes still glued to her sister, who unfortunately looked like was having a civil conversation. Nothing alarming happening.

Haseul who had stopped typing her girlfriend after hearing that, yelled at her friend who just dropped that bomb, but didn’t elaborate “So tell us!”

Hyunjin remained silence, barely paying attention to her friends.

“C’mon Hyun. You know you can trust us.” Sooyoung said, her curiosity also getting the best of her.

“It’s not my secret to tell.” Hyunjin simply said.

“You hate her! Just spill already.” Haseul argued. She’d been dying to know what happened ever since Jungeun mentioned on their group chat that they had stopped by the party because of Yerim. It was so random, surely there’s gotta be something behind it

Hyunjin turned away from her sister to stare at her friends “So? That doesn’t change it’s not my fucking secret to tell. Y’all need to chill and mind your own business.” And with that she turned back to watch her sister.

Haseul was about to protest, but Jungeun’s cautious stare kept her at bay “Leave her, Seulie. She’s right. It’s none of our business.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don’t know when i’ll be updating again, sorry


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